Connect Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop connects to Trace through its native custom-connector setting. This is the recommended path — Trace is a remote, OAuth-secured server, so you don’t need to edit any config file.

Before you start

You need a Trace account on the Starter plan or higher. Connecting uses OAuth — you’ll sign in to Trace in your browser; there’s no API key to paste. Your Trace email must be verified, and some tools require the Pro plan. See Authentication for the full access model.

Steps (recommended)

1. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.

2. Click Add custom connector.

3. Enter the server URL:

   https://mcp.tracedata.ai/mcp

4. Claude opens a browser sign-in. Log in to Trace and approve access. The connector turns on once the OAuth flow completes.

Optional fallback: the mcp-remote bridge

claude_desktop_config.json is for local stdio servers, not remote OAuth servers like Trace. Prefer the native connector above. If you’re on an older setup that can’t add a custom connector, you can bridge to the remote server with the mcp-remote npm package, which handles the OAuth flow for you:

claude_desktop_config.json

{ "mcpServers": { "trace": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tracedata.ai/mcp", "--transport", "http-only"] } } }

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the file. The first time the bridge connects it opens a browser sign-in.

Note

Connecting uses the standard MCP OAuth discovery flow. The client calls the Trace server, gets a 401 pointing at the OAuth metadata, registers itself automatically (Dynamic Client Registration), and then runs the browser sign-in. You don’t configure any of this by hand.

Next steps

• See what Claude can do with the connection in MCP tools.
• Background on the server and transport: MCP overview.