Connect your AI client to a gateway

This walkthrough connects an AI client to a MCP Manager gateway. You open the gateway’s Connect this gateway menu, pick your client to get the exact deep link, command or steps, authorize once in the browser, and the gateway’s tools are ready.

For many AI clients — Claude or ChatGPT on a team or enterprise plan — adding an MCP server is a privileged action that not every member can perform. In those setups an administrator connects the gateway once so it’s available to the whole team. This walkthrough is that connection, whether you’re doing it for yourself or on behalf of others. Connecting requires the Authenticate via OAuth capability, and you’ll only ever reach the gateways your team membership grants. See the Connection Experience for what the gateway does on the other side.

What you’ll need

Access to a gateway on the Gateways page. Everything you need to connect — the per-client links and commands, and the gateway URL itself — comes from its Connect this gateway menu.
An MCP-capable client: Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, VS Code, or another.
An MCP Manager account (you’ll sign in during the flow).

Open your gateway from the Gateways page and click Connect this gateway in the page header. The menu lists Claude, Claude Code, ChatGPT, Codex, Cursor, and a Custom client option, plus a Connect via URL section with the gateway’s URL. Pick your client — MCP Manager hands you the exact deep link to open, command to run, or steps to follow, already carrying this gateway’s name and URL, so there’s nothing to substitute by hand. The gateway URL it gives you includes the gateway ID in its path (.../gateway/v1/mcp/<your-gateway-id>), which pins the connection to that specific gateway.

Click Claude. A new browser tab opens Claude’s Add custom connector dialog with the connector name and gateway URL already filled in — confirm to add it. Claude marks connectors added this way with an “added by an external link” notice; that’s expected and safe to accept.If Claude says Missing permission to add custom connectors, your Claude organization limits who can add them — see Troubleshooting.

Click Claude Code, then choose how widely to add the gateway:

This project only — adds it in the current repo (--scope local).
All your projects — adds it for you everywhere in Claude Code (--scope user).
Your whole team — writes it into the repo so everyone who works in it gets it (--scope project).

Copy the command for the scope you picked and run it in your terminal. It looks like this (the menu fills in the name and URL for you):

terminal

claude mcp add --transport http <gateway-name> "https://app.mcpmanager.ai/gateway/v1/mcp/<your-gateway-id>" --scope user

Click ChatGPT. ChatGPT has no link that fills in its form, so MCP Manager shows the gateway’s name and URL to copy, the steps, and an Open ChatGPT button that opens ChatGPT’s Plugins page. In ChatGPT:

On Plugins, click Add, then Add custom MCP server.
Paste the name into Name.
Under Connection, keep Server URL and paste the gateway URL.
Under Authentication, keep OAuth.
Tick I understand and want to continue, then click Create as a plugin.

You then sign in to MCP Manager in the same tab, and ChatGPT brings you back when you finish. Find the new plugin in Plugins and install it. To use it in a chat, type @ and pick the plugin.Full MCP support is on ChatGPT Business, Enterprise and Edu, on the web. If Add custom MCP server is missing, turn on developer mode: a workspace admin or owner does this on those plans; on other plans, you do it in ChatGPT’s settings. See Troubleshooting.

Click Codex, then copy the command and run it in your terminal. This adds the gateway to Codex for all your projects (the menu fills in the name and URL):

terminal

codex mcp add <gateway-name> --url "https://app.mcpmanager.ai/gateway/v1/mcp/<your-gateway-id>"

MCP Manager doesn’t have a one-click entry for every client. For VS Code — or any client not listed — use Connect via URL to copy the gateway URL and add it by hand, or use Custom client to get a prompt you can paste into any AI to have it walk you through the setup.For VS Code, create .vscode/mcp.json and paste the copied URL:

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "mcp-manager": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://app.mcpmanager.ai/gateway/v1/mcp/<your-gateway-id>"
    }
  }
}

A gateway URL you saved earlier in the ?gateway=<your-gateway-id> query form still works — there’s nothing to change. The Connect this gateway menu now hands out the path form above because some clients (Claude Code among them) compare connectors by URL with the query string stripped, which can collapse multiple gateways into one; the path form keeps each gateway distinct.

If the gateway is disabled, archived, or still has servers to configure, the menu says so and asks you to confirm before it hands off — you can still connect, but some or all of its tools won’t work until an administrator finishes setting it up.

Step 2: Authorize in the browser

The first time your client connects, it opens MCP Manager in a browser to authorize.

MCP Manager either sends a one-time code to your work email, or — if your domain is set up with an identity provider — sends you to that provider to log in and back. Enter the code or complete the provider’s login.

Bring an identity for any server that needs one

MCP Manager checks whether any server in the gateway needs you to authenticate with the downstream service, and walks you through them one at a time. For each, you can reuse an identity you’ve already added to MCP Manager or set up a new one:

If the server supports OAuth, it’s a quick web-based approval — for example, clicking Approve on the provider’s page.
If the server uses header-based auth, such as a GitHub personal access token, MCP Manager prompts you to paste the header values.

Servers configured with a shared identity need nothing from you.

Allow

Review what the gateway includes and click Allow. (When servers need your identity, the button reads Next and steps you through them first.) Your client lands back connected.

Step 3: Use the tools

Return to your client and ask it to do something the gateway’s tools cover — for example, search a connected knowledge base or list your assigned issues. The tools appear automatically; there’s nothing else to configure. In ChatGPT, pick the plugin with @ first.

Your client is connected through a governed gateway, and every call you make is logged. When your administrator adds or removes tools, they show up or disappear on your next session restart. If they unassign a server from the gateway, its tools stop working right away. And if they add a new server that requires authentication, you won’t be able to use its tools until you disconnect and reconnect — reconnecting runs the authorize flow above and adds a step to provide that server’s identity.

Troubleshooting

Your AI app only lets admins add MCP servers

Many AI apps let an organization limit who can add MCP servers. If yours does, the app refuses the gateway, or adds it and then blocks it. Ask an admin of the AI app (not of MCP Manager) to allow the gateway. Give them the gateway URL from Connect via URL in the Connect this gateway menu.

AI app	Who can allow the gateway	What you see
Claude	On Team plans, Owners and Primary Owners. On Enterprise plans, also roles with Manage access to Libraries.	Missing permission to add custom connectors. See below.
Claude Code	An admin who manages Claude Code settings for your organization. They add the gateway URL to the allowed MCP servers.	`Cannot add MCP server "<name>": not allowed by enterprise policy`
ChatGPT	On Business, Enterprise and Edu, a workspace admin or owner, who turns on developer mode in the workspace settings. On other plans, you turn it on yourself in ChatGPT’s settings.	Add custom MCP server is missing.
Codex	An admin who manages Codex for your organization. They add the gateway to the allowed MCP servers in `requirements.toml`. Codex checks the server name as well as the URL, so send them the whole command from the menu: the name is the word after `codex mcp add`.	Codex adds the server but disables it.
Cursor	On Enterprise plans, a team admin. They add the gateway under MCP Configuration in the team dashboard.	Cursor blocks servers that are not on the allowlist.

For details, see Control MCP server access for Claude Code, Developer mode and MCP apps in ChatGPT for ChatGPT, Managed configuration for Codex, and Model and integration management for Cursor.

Missing permission to add custom connectors

Claude shows this when your Claude organization doesn’t let you add custom connectors yourself. On Claude Team plans, only Owners and Primary Owners can add them; on Enterprise plans, so can people whose custom role includes Manage access to Libraries.

Copy the gateway URL from Connect via URL in the gateway’s Connect this gateway menu.
Ask a Claude organization Owner or Primary Owner (on Enterprise, also anyone whose role has Manage access to Libraries) to add it under Organization settings → Connectors as a custom connector.
Once it’s added, open Claude’s connectors and connect to it yourself. You still authorize in MCP Manager as in Step 2, so you only get the tools your gateway access allows.

See Anthropic’s guide, Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP.

Connected, but no tools

The gateway has no MCP servers assigned yet, so there’s nothing for your client to call. The Connect this gateway menu warns you about this before it hands off. An MCP Manager admin can assign a server on the gateway’s Servers tab. Your client picks up the new tools when its session restarts.

Build a team gateway

The administrator side: how the gateway you just connected to is built and scoped.

Connection Experience

What MCP Manager does during the authorize flow, and why there’s no half-connected state.

Gateway Deployment Strategies

How administrators distribute gateway URLs across an organization.

Run a headless agent

Connect from a script or CI job with a token instead of a browser.

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Connect your AI client to a gateway

What you’ll need

Step 1: Open the Connect menu and add the gateway to your client

Step 2: Authorize in the browser

Step 3: Use the tools

Troubleshooting

Your AI app only lets admins add MCP servers

Missing permission to add custom connectors

Connected, but no tools

Further reading

Build a team gateway

Connection Experience

Gateway Deployment Strategies

Run a headless agent

​What you’ll need

​Step 1: Open the Connect menu and add the gateway to your client

​Step 2: Authorize in the browser

​Step 3: Use the tools

​Troubleshooting

​Your AI app only lets admins add MCP servers

​Missing permission to add custom connectors

​Connected, but no tools

​Further reading

Build a team gateway

Connection Experience

Gateway Deployment Strategies

Run a headless agent

What you’ll need

Step 1: Open the Connect menu and add the gateway to your client

Step 2: Authorize in the browser

Step 3: Use the tools

Troubleshooting

Your AI app only lets admins add MCP servers

Missing permission to add custom connectors

Connected, but no tools

Further reading