Getting Started with Claude Desktop

Configure Collate’s MCP Server to interact with Anthropic’s AI assistant platform.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

Collate v1.8.0+ running.
MCP Application installed in Collate.
- Navigate to <YOUR-Collate-SERVER>/marketplace/apps/McpApplication.
- Install McpApplication if it isn’t already installed.
Claude Desktop installed.

Connect with OAuth 2.0 (Recommended)

OAuth lets you authenticate using your existing Collate login, with no tokens to manage.

Step 1: Open Settings

Open Claude Desktop and navigate to Settings.

Step 2: Add a Custom Connector

Go to Connectors and click Add custom connector.

Step 3: Configure the Server

Name: Enter a name for your connector, for example Collate.
Remote MCP server URL: Enter your Collate MCP Server URL:

https://<YOUR-Collate-SERVER>/mcp

For example, https://your-collate-instance.com/mcp. Click Add to save. Claude Desktop Add custom connector dialog

Step 4: Authenticate

Claude Desktop will open a browser window prompting you to sign in with your Collate credentials. Follow the on-screen instructions based on your configured authentication method:

SSO (Google, Azure, Okta, and more): You will be redirected to your SSO provider’s login page.
Basic Auth: Enter your Collate username and password.

Once authenticated, Claude Desktop connects to your Collate MCP Server automatically. You will see the server listed with all available MCP tools. Claude Desktop showing connected Collate MCP Server with available tools

Claude Desktop showing connected Collate MCP Server with available tools

Connect with Personal Access Token (PAT)

If you prefer token-based authentication or OAuth is not available in your environment, use a Personal Access Token with the mcp-remote proxy instead.

Prerequisites for PAT Method

In addition to the general prerequisites above, you’ll need:

nvm and npx/node version 22.
A Collate Personal Access Token.

Configure Claude Desktop

Navigate to Claude Desktop’s Settings, then select Developer and Edit Config. Paste the following into claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Collate": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "<YOUR-Collate-SERVER>/mcp",
        "--auth-server-url=<YOUR-Collate-SERVER>/mcp",
        "--client-id=Collate",
        "--verbose",
        "--clean",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer <YOUR-Collate-PAT>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace <YOUR-Collate-SERVER> with your Collate instance URL and <YOUR-Collate-PAT> with your Personal Access Token. Restart Claude Desktop. You should see your Collate service running.

Prompt to Read from Collate

This part of the guide assumes that you have assets in Collate that Claude can read. Add data sources into Collate using the connectors guide. Paste the following prompt into Claude to have it read from Collate:

Imagine you're a data analyst tasked with building a customer retention dashboard.
Can you help me identify which tables or datasets in the Collate database might
contain relevant information?

Claude will ask if it can use the external integration Collate. Select Allow always. You may have to do this multiple times, once for each tool. Claude is now reading from Collate via its MCP Server. For more sample use cases with MCP, check out our blog.

Additional Resources

Reach Out on Slack

With MCP, Collate users are finding new ways to use the platform all the time. If you’ve got a great new use case, show it off in Slack.

​Getting Started with Claude Desktop

​Prerequisites

​Connect with OAuth 2.0 (Recommended)

​Step 1: Open Settings

​Step 2: Add a Custom Connector

​Step 3: Configure the Server

​Step 4: Authenticate

​Connect with Personal Access Token (PAT)

​Prerequisites for PAT Method

​Configure Claude Desktop

​Prompt to Read from Collate

​Additional Resources

​Reach Out on Slack