Connect Claude to Narwhal MCP

Connect Claude Code to Narwhal's remote MCP endpoint with a Bearer key, and understand the current custom-connector limitation.

Claude Code supports remote HTTP MCP servers and can send a static Bearer header. The command below keeps the token in an environment variable while Claude writes the local server configuration.

Claude Code

Run this command, keeping the variable placeholder quoted so Claude Code can resolve it when it connects:

Terminal

claude mcp add --transport http narwhal https://api.narwhalapi.com/mcp \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer ${NARWHAL_API_KEY}'

The command configures the hosted Streamable HTTP endpoint at https://api.narwhalapi.com/mcp. Set NARWHAL_API_KEY in the environment where you run Claude Code, and keep the key private.

Claude web and Desktop connectors

Claude's custom remote connector flow accepts a server URL and offers optional OAuth settings. Narwhal currently authenticates with a Bearer API key and does not publish an OAuth flow, so adding the URL alone will not authenticate a Narwhal connection.

Use Claude Code with the command above, or a client such as Cursor or VS Code that can supply the Authorization header.

Anthropic's remote connector requests originate from Anthropic's cloud infrastructure, so the endpoint must be publicly reachable. See Claude's MCP documentation for current client behavior.

Verify the connection

Open the client's MCP server list and confirm that narwhal is connected. For a command-line check, run claude mcp get narwhal.

Then ask the client to list the available Narwhal tools. Tool discovery does not consume data quota; each successful tools/call consumes one request.

Use the main MCP guide for the public tool list, arguments, response shape and quota rules.