MCP

Vinc via MCP

Connect IDEs, CLIs, and web assistants to your map using the Model Context Protocol.

Vinc's MCP server implements the protocol and nothing else. That is why it is not vendor-specific: any assistant that speaks MCP can read your map and answer from it. There is nothing Vinc-specific to learn on the assistant's side, and nothing assistant-specific inside Vinc.

Three ways to connect

Which one is yours depends on one question: where is the map you want the assistant to reach?

• You have the desktop app and no account. The map is on this machine. Take A: the app's button, or one paste.
• You have a vincs.io account. The map is your account graph, or a team's. Take B: the remote address plus a sign-in.
• You use the Claude Code CLI. Either map, depending on the address you give it. Take C: one command.

A. Desktop, no account

The app has a button for four hosts under Settings → Connections. Each button writes Vinc into that host's own config and leaves everything else in the file alone.

Everything else takes one paste. Run the command below; it prints a mcpServers block in the shape most hosts read (Kimi CLI, VS Code, Zed, Windsurf, Copilot). Paste it into the host's MCP settings.

vinc-sidecar mcp manual

B. Remote: an address and a sign-in

This reaches your account graph. Every host below takes the same address; what differs is where you paste it and how the sign-in happens.

claude.ai

Free, Pro and Max plans:

1. Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector.
2. Name: Vinc. Remote MCP server URL: https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp.
3. Authentication: Always required.
4. OAuth client: No client ID, register one automatically. Vinc does not yet serve Anthropic's hosted client metadata, so the first option in that list will not work here; this one does.
5. Add, then Connect. A vincs.io page asks you to sign in and approve. That is the whole sign-in.

Team and Enterprise: an owner goes to Organization settings → Connectors → Add → Custom, chooses Web if asked, and enters the same URL. Members then find it under Customize → Connectors and press Connect.

To use a key instead of OAuth (a service account, or a read-only key for an agent runtime): set Authentication to None, then under Request headers add Authorization with the value Bearer vinc_ro_…, including the word Bearer and the space. Request headers are a beta and not every organization has the section yet.

Two things worth knowing. Connectors you add here also load in the Claude Code CLI when you sign in there with the same account. And the Claude Desktop chat app, when signed in, uses these same connectors; there is nothing separate to add.

GPTChatGPT

ChatGPT calls this a connector, and custom ones live behind developer mode. Plus, Pro, Team and Enterprise plans; not Free.

1. Settings → Connectors → Advanced settings, turn on Developer mode.
2. Back in Connectors, Create.
3. Name: Vinc. MCP server URL: https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp.
4. Authentication: OAuth. ChatGPT requires OAuth 2.1 with Dynamic Client Registration for OAuth connectors, which is exactly what Vinc serves. There is no client id or secret to enter.
5. Tick the trust confirmation, create, and finish the vincs.io sign-in when it opens.

CDXCodex CLI

Two lines. The second opens the browser for the vincs.io sign-in.

codex mcp add vinc --url https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp
codex mcp login vinc

To use a key instead, put it in an environment variable and point at it:

codex mcp add vinc --url https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp --bearer-token-env-var VINC_RO

Both forms land in ~/.codex/config.toml under [mcp_servers.vinc]: a url, and either bearer_token_env_var or the stored OAuth credential. The app's button in way A does the local version of this for you.

GRKGrok

Paid tiers. On Business and Enterprise a team admin adds it.

1. grok.com/connectors → New Connector → Custom.
2. MCP server URL: https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp.
3. Complete the sign-in Grok asks for.

Cursor, Zed, Windsurf, Copilot, anything else

These read a config file, and the file can point at the remote address instead of a local command. Whether the editor can finish an OAuth sign-in varies; a key in an Authorization: Bearer header works everywhere the editor lets you set headers.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vinc": { "url": "https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp" }
  }
}

C. Claude Code: one command, either map

claude mcp add --scope user --transport http vinc https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp

Then inside a session type /mcp, choose vinc, pick Authenticate, and finish the vincs.io sign-in in the browser. --scope user makes it available in every project; leave it off to keep it to the current one.

With a key instead:

claude mcp add --scope user --transport http vinc https://mcp.vincs.io/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer vinc_ro_…"

For this machine's map instead of the account, the app's button in way A already ran claude mcp add for you with the local command.

Checking it worked

1. Quit the assistant completely and reopen it. Many hosts do not re-read their config when you only close the window.
2. Look for entries like vinc_search in its tool list.
3. Just ask, for example: "what do I have in my graph about vector search?"

If the tools do not appear

• Run vinc-sidecar mcp manual and compare what it prints against what is actually in the host's config file. That is the fastest way to see whether registration landed.
• If it did not, press Remove beside that host in Settings and connect again (or vinc-sidecar mcp uninstall --client <host>). Connecting preserves your other servers, so this is safe to repeat.
• For a web connector, make sure you finished the approval screen. Adding the URL without approving does not connect it.
• A remote connection that was added but never approved is not connected. If the host says it needs authentication, the sign-in was not finished; open it and connect again.

What an assistant can actually call, and what leaves your machine, is in Tools.