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An MCP server is a server you run, or subscribe to, that offers tools over HTTP. Attaching one adds its tools to your chats, so the model can call them in the middle of a turn the same way it calls anything else. Cortex describes the section in those terms: Attach a Model Context Protocol server over HTTP; its tools join the model in chat. This page covers where the add form lives, what Cortex checks before it stores anything, what happens when a server asks you to sign in, how the tools show up in a turn, how to let bots use them, the caps, and what to expect when a server stops answering.

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Where to add a server

Open Settings and go to Integrations. Two sections sit there:
  • Apps, described as Connect an app to act on it from chat. A connected integration adds its tools to your conversations. These are the catalogue connectors. See Connectors.
  • MCP servers, which is the one you want here.
The Connectors page has no MCP form. If you went looking for it there, come back to Settings and Integrations.

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Add a server

1

Name the server

MCP server name is a short label of your choosing. It becomes the prefix on the server’s tool names, so keep it recognisable.
2

Paste the URL

MCP server URL takes the server’s address. It is an https address ending in the server’s MCP path. There is nothing to configure beyond the name and the URL.
3

Add a bearer token, only if your server needs one

MCP server bearer token is optional, and it is a password field. Leave it empty unless you already hold a credential for the server.
4

Choose Add

The button reads Add, then Adding… while it works. Cortex checks the server is reachable and asks it for its tool list before it stores anything.
The finished row shows the name, the URL truncated, authenticated when a token is held, and a Remove button.

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Sign in when the server asks

Some servers require authorisation. When one says so, Cortex takes you to that server’s own sign-in page and finishes the connection when you come back. You have a few minutes to complete it. Nothing is stored until you return. If you cancel, nothing was created. The return screen reads Connecting your server with Cortex is finishing the connection. This takes a moment., then Finishing the connection…, then confirms with the server’s name and is connected. Taking you back…. When it does not work you get one of two honest endings, both of which change nothing:
  • The server was not connected, with Nothing was changed. You can start again from Connectors.
  • The connection did not finish, with Cortex could not finish the connection. Nothing was changed.
Either way, Back to Connectors returns you to the product.

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The bearer token is a different thing

Signing in and pasting a token are not two routes to the same place. The token field is for a server you run yourself, where you already hold a credential and no sign-in dance is needed. It reaches nothing except the endpoint you typed.

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How the tools appear in a turn

Each attached server’s card lists the tool names the server advertised. In a chat, those tools are named after your server and the tool, so it is clear where a call went. Their results are treated as third-party content, the same as any other outside source, which means text arriving from a server cannot act as an instruction to the model. See Built-in tools for how Cortex handles any tool result.
The tool chips are a snapshot taken when the server was attached, not a live read. A server that has gained a tool since then will not show it, and will not offer it, until you attach it again. If the card says No tools were advertised when this server was attached., that server offered nothing at that moment.

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Let bots use a server

Each card carries a Cortex Bot switch, described as Let your mascots use these tools. Off by default; each call still asks first. A server you attached to give Chat a tool does not silently become a bot’s tool too: you turn it on per server, and each call is still confirmed. The switch is not available while the server itself is not enabled, or while a change is still being saved.

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Caps

A guest cannot attach an MCP server, and the refusal happens before Cortex makes any outbound request at all.

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When a server stops answering

If a server’s sign-in has expired, Cortex marks it as needing reconnection and skips it for that turn rather than failing the whole answer. A brief network problem is skipped the same way, and nothing about the server is changed. Reconnect it when you next notice the mark.

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Remove a server

Remove on the row detaches the server and its tools. There is no separate edit form: to change a URL or a token, or to pick up tools the server has added since, remove it and add it again.

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Who is allowed to change this

A Roles block explains which of these controls you can use: Your role decides which of these controls you can use. The relevant grant is Manage connectors, described as Connect, configure and disconnect the account’s apps and MCP servers., and it shows as Granted or Not granted. Refusals are specific: Sign in to connect an app., Your role cannot change this connector., or the same sentence naming your role. Where the deployment says nothing about roles, the block says so rather than guessing: This deployment does not report roles, so nothing here is inferred. Custom roles, when your organization uses them, are managed by your organization.

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Organization servers

An Organization block lists Servers the organization provisioned. Members cannot add past a lock. Secrets never appear here. Each entry can carry a policy of Lock, Require or Deny, and the surfaces it names are Chat, Code and Bot. Only an organization admin can change policy.
This block is informational today. Servers listed there do not add tools to your chats, so do not count on one for a turn. Where a deployment has none, it says No organization servers on this deployment. A guest sees Organization servers are available after you sign in.
Also on the same tab are rows for first-party connectors, which show Connected, their tool count, Disconnect, or a Coming soon badge where the connector is not ready.