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Chargebee exposes three MCP servers, and the two that carry billing data don’t connect with a single OAuth click. The Data Lookup and Onboarding servers authenticate with a token header — a Chargebee API key passed as a Bearer token — and their URLs are specific to your Chargebee environment. The Knowledge Base server is open and needs no credential at all.
When you connect a Chargebee Data Lookup or Onboarding URL, MCP Manager’s authentication detection shows you the authentication choice screen. Pick Token / Headers and provide an Authorization header — you won’t be approving a consent screen. Don’t pick OAuth Pre-registration; see why OAuth doesn’t work here.
This guide is a convenience based on Chargebee’s setup at the time of writing. Chargebee’s own documentation is authoritative and may be more current. The requirements below — where the MCP servers live in settings, API key creation, environment-specific URLs — come from Chargebee, not from MCP Manager. If a step here has drifted or a connection problem is specific to how Chargebee works, Chargebee support is the fastest path to an answer.

Chargebee’s three MCP servers

Chargebee offers three servers. Each is added to MCP Manager the same way; they differ in purpose and authentication: This guide walks through the Data Lookup server. The Onboarding server follows the identical flow (same API-key-as-Bearer authentication), and the Knowledge Base server is the same flow minus the credential — MCP Manager detects it as an open server and connects directly. Tool counts are what each server exposed at the time of writing and are set by Chargebee, not MCP Manager.

Before you start

Bring the following before you open MCP Manager:
  • A Chargebee account with access to the environment you’re connecting. The MCP server URL is tied to the Chargebee site you’re logged into, so know which site you’re targeting.
  • The ability to create an API key in that Chargebee environment. If your organization limits the number of API keys per user or per site, confirm with your Chargebee admin that a key is available for this connection.
  • Access to Settings → Configure Chargebee in the Chargebee UI, where the Agentic AI section lives.
Create a dedicated API key named for the connection (for example, MCP Manager – Data Lookup (Test)) rather than reusing a personal or general-purpose key. The connection then survives team turnover, the key’s purpose is self-documenting, and revoking it later affects nothing else.

Connect the server

1

Find the MCP server in Chargebee

In Chargebee, go to Settings → Configure Chargebee → Agentic AI → MCP Servers. You’ll see the three available servers. Open the one you want — for this guide, Data Lookup.
2

Copy the environment-specific URL

Copy the MCP server URL shown on the server’s page. Chargebee shows the URL for the site you’re currently logged into, and an API key is only valid for the site that issued it — a key created in one environment will not authenticate against another environment’s URL. Confirm you’re logged into the site you intend to connect before copying, and check Chargebee’s documentation for which of your sites offer MCP servers.
3

Create an API key

In the same area of Chargebee settings, create an API key: give it a descriptive name (e.g., MCP Manager – Data Lookup (Test)) and click Create. Chargebee generates the key value.Copy the key value now and keep it somewhere safe until the connection is stored. If you lose it, revoke the key and generate a new one rather than hunting for it.
4

Add the server in MCP Manager

On the MCP Servers page, click Add, choose Remote, paste the URL from step 2 into Server URL, and click Continue. MCP Manager runs its discovery call and shows the authentication choice screen — pick Token / Headers.
5

Store the token identity

The token form pre-fills one header row with the name Authorization. Fill it in:Replace <your-api-key> with the key from step 3 — the value is the word Bearer, a single space, then the key. Click Store identity.MCP Manager stores the header names and values encrypted and attaches them to every request it makes to Chargebee. The success screen confirms the server is ready to use; its tools become available to add to a gateway.

Identity and attribution

An API-key identity is a single credential: every request MCP Manager sends with it acts as that key, and Chargebee-side logs attribute all activity to the key — not to the individual who triggered the call. MCP Manager’s own logs do attribute each call to the real user, so you retain per-person visibility within MCP Manager. Two settings control who uses the credential:
  • Identity availability. The identity you stored is Private (only available to your user account) or Global (available to all users in your organization). Make it Global if the team is meant to share it.
  • Identity Scheme on the gateway. Each gateway server assignment has an Identity Scheme: One identity is shared by everyone or Each user uses their own identity. If per-user accountability matters in Chargebee itself, each user needs their own API key — set the scheme to per-user so every user connects with an identity holding their own key. Note that this multiplies API key consumption, which is worth raising with your Chargebee admin if key limits apply.
See per-user versus shared identity for how the two models compare.

Gotchas & things to keep in mind

  • Environment mismatch is the most likely failure. Each Chargebee site exposes its own MCP URL, and API keys are site-specific — a key from one environment won’t authenticate against another environment’s URL. Confirm which site you’re logged into before copying either value.
  • The Bearer prefix is required. The header value is Bearer <key> — the word Bearer, one space, then the key. Pasting the raw key alone will fail.
  • Don’t pick OAuth Pre-registration. Chargebee’s OAuth implementation is a public client — it issues a Client ID but no Client Secret — and MCP Manager’s pre-registration flow requires both, so the exchange fails. Token / Headers is the working path for the Data Lookup and Onboarding servers.
  • Name servers and identities for product and environment. With more than one environment connectable, Chargebee Test – Data Lookup versus Chargebee Prod – Data Lookup prevents pointing an AI client at billing data in the wrong environment.
  • API key limits may need an admin conversation. If Chargebee constrains keys per user or per organization, plan for the keys this connection (and any per-user identity setup) will consume before you start.
  • This is a shared credential unless you configure otherwise. See Identity and attribution above — rely on MCP Manager’s logs, not Chargebee’s, for per-person attribution unless each user brings their own key.
  • The Knowledge Base server alone is limited. It exposes only 2 documentation tools. If lookups on customer data return nothing, check that the Data Lookup server — not just Knowledge Base — is assigned to your gateway.

Verify the connection

Open the server on the MCP Servers page and check its Server features section: a working connection lists the server’s tools with an Available tools count (47 for Data Lookup at the time of writing) and the date the features were last refreshed. If the list is empty, use Refresh now and check the identity’s header value. Then assign the server to a gateway and run a lookup through a connected AI client — for example, ask for details on a known customer record. A working Data Lookup connection returns rich customer, subscription, and billing information; if you only get documentation content back, the gateway is likely serving Knowledge Base tools only.

Further reading

Find & Connect MCP Servers

How MCP Manager detects authentication type, and how to find other servers’ URLs.

Token in custom headers

The authentication method Chargebee’s Data Lookup and Onboarding servers use, in depth.

Per-user versus shared identity

What a shared API key means for attribution, and when to give each user their own.

Connect your AI client

Point Claude, Cursor, or another client at the gateway once Chargebee is connected.

External sources

Chargebee documentation

Chargebee’s authoritative reference for its MCP servers, Agentic AI settings, and API key management.