Install a client
Any tool that speaks MCP over HTTP can connect. Two routes exist, and which one a client uses decides how you set it up: signing in for ChatGPT and Claude on the web, and an API key for everything else. See Authentication.
Pick your client
| Client | How it connects | Needs Node.js |
|---|---|---|
| ChatGPT | Sign in, approve in the app | No |
| ChatGPT Desktop | A key in ~/.codex/config.toml | No |
| Claude | Sign in, approve in the app | No |
| Claude Code | One terminal command | No |
| Claude Desktop | Config file, through a bridge | Yes |
| Codex | One terminal command | No |
| Cursor | A .cursor/mcp.json file | No |
| Other clients | Manually, if it supports headers | Depends |
Before you start
In AOV.ai Cart Drawer, open Settings → MCP connectors. Add a connection, name it (1 to 40 characters) and choose its access: Read only or Read and write. Then:
- For ChatGPT or Claude on the web, copy the OAuth server URL and follow that client's page.
- For every other client, copy the Server address and create a key. The key is shown once.
The store also has to be on a plan that includes this; the connection is refused otherwise.
Rename the server if you have more than one store
Name each server after its store, for example aov-cart-drawer-northwind.
AI clients key their server list by name. Paste two stores' snippets under the same name and the second silently replaces the first — you end up with one connection, and no way to tell from an answer which store it came from. The name is yours to choose; only the address and the key have to match what the app gave you.
After you connect
Do not treat "no error" as proof. Check both halves:
-
The client sees the server, and the right number of tools.
Connection Cart drawer v1 Cart drawer v2 Read only 13 tools 12 tools Read and write 44 tools 44 tools /mcpin Claude Code, Settings → MCP in Cursor, the tools icon in Claude Desktop. Fewer write tools than expected on a read and write connection usually means the drawer has never been saved — open the Cart Editor, save once, and look again. -
The key is accepted. Ask something only this store can answer:
Is my cart drawer working right now?
A real answer means the whole chain works. A refusal means the server was reached and the key was not — see Troubleshooting.
Changing the address or the key
Remove the server and add it again rather than editing the entry in place. Clients cache what they learned when a server was first registered, and editing a URL does not always clear it.