---
title: "Connect an AI client"
description: "Add the Lookio MCP server to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT or another client, approve the connection with OAuth, or use an API key for an unattended agent."
canonical: "https://lookio.app/docs/mcp/connect"
updated: "2026-11-03"
---

# Connect an AI client

The server URL is the same everywhere:

```text
https://mcp.lookio.app/mcp
```

Client menus change often, so the steps below name the setting and not the exact button. Each client's own documentation is the reference for its menu.

## Claude

**Claude.ai and Claude Desktop**

Add a custom connector in Claude's connector settings and paste the URL. Claude opens Lookio in your browser, you approve the connection, and the Lookio tools appear in the conversation.

**Claude Code**

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http lookio https://mcp.lookio.app/mcp
```

Then run `/mcp` in Claude Code and choose **Authenticate** to approve the connection.

## Cursor

Add the server to `.cursor/mcp.json`, in your project or in your home directory:

```json title=".cursor/mcp.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "lookio": {
      "url": "https://mcp.lookio.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}
```

Cursor shows a **Connect** button for the server. Click it to approve the connection in your browser.

## ChatGPT

Add a custom connector (an MCP server) in ChatGPT's connector settings and paste the URL. Custom connectors may need developer mode, depending on your ChatGPT plan. Approve the connection when ChatGPT sends you to Lookio.

## Any other client

Any client that supports remote MCP servers with OAuth works with the same URL. It discovers how to sign in from `https://mcp.lookio.app/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource` and `/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server`, registers itself, and sends you to approve. See [OAuth](/docs/api/authentication#oauth).

## What you approve

When a client asks to connect, Lookio shows the consent screen:

1. Choose the workspace, if you belong to several.
2. Untick anything you would rather not grant. You can only grant what your role in the workspace allows.
3. Approve.

The client then acts for you, with those permissions. On a paid plan, you need the `mcp` permission to connect an MCP client. If your workspace does not allow members to grant any of the permissions the client asked for, Lookio tells you.

## Review and revoke

Open **Developer tools** in the app, then the connections section. Each connection shows who approved it, what it may do and when it was last used. Revoke one and it loses access immediately.

## Use an API key instead

For an agent that runs without a person, create a workspace [API key](/docs/platform/api-keys) and send it as a bearer token, in the client's header setting:

```text
Authorization: Bearer sk_live_...
```

Give the key only the scopes the agent needs. The **Ask questions** preset is enough for an agent that only answers questions. A key never manages members or tags. Its answers are kept in conversations it can continue, and a key holding `assistants:write` can also read the [logs](/docs/platform/logs).

## Clients that need a local process

Some clients can only launch a command that talks over standard input and output. The CLI includes a bridge for them:

```bash
lookio mcp
```

It forwards each message to the MCP server with your stored credential. Sign in first with `lookio auth login`. See [CLI authentication](/docs/cli/authentication).

## Test the connection

Ask your agent: "List my Lookio assistants." If the connection works it calls `list_assistants` and shows them. If the client lists no Lookio tools, check the scopes you approved: a tool is listed only when its scope is granted.