feat(mcp): let the connector address carry its own key

verdande could not be added to Claude at all. The documented setup —
POST /api/v1/mcp with an Authorization header — cannot be configured from
Claude's custom-connector dialog, which asks for a name, a URL and OAuth
client credentials and has no field for a bearer token. The instructions
described something the interface does not offer.

Worse, the obvious guess failed silently in the most misleading way
available: /mcp was not a route, so the SPA fallback answered 200 with a
page of HTML. The connector reported a successful connection and then
failed to parse the response, which reads as a broken client rather than
a missing endpoint.

So /mcp exists now and takes its credential in the query string, exactly
as the calendar feed does and for the same reason: a client that cannot
be told to send a header means the address is the credential. The
request logger records paths without their query strings, so the key does
not reach the log.

It is deliberately outside /api/v1 and accepts the key and nothing else.
Reading a session cookie here would make it a state-changing POST outside
the CSRF check — a cross-site request that acts as whoever is signed in —
and there is a test that fails if that ever becomes true.

The API path is unchanged for anything that can send a header. The tokens
page now shows the connector address next to the token it belongs to,
since that is the one moment the token exists.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
This commit is contained in:
Kristian Wind
2026-08-17 14:04:03 +02:00
committed by Kristian Wind
co-authored by Claude Opus 5
parent d7e250f860
commit e63d852847
7 changed files with 292 additions and 4 deletions
+27 -4
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@@ -12,17 +12,40 @@ conversation.
## Connecting it
**Make a token.** **Settings → API tokens → New token**. It is shown once.
**Make a token** under **Settings → API tokens**. The page then shows the
connector address to go with it — token and all — which is the thing to copy:
**Add the connector.** In Claude, add a custom connector with:
```
https://todo.example.dk/mcp?key=vrd_…
```
- **URL**: `https://todo.example.dk/api/v1/mcp`
- **Authentication**: Bearer token, using the token you just made
**Add the connector** in Claude with that address, and nothing else. The dialog
asks for a name and a URL; leave the OAuth fields empty.
!!! note "Why the key is in the address"
The dialog has no field for a bearer token — only OAuth client credentials —
so a header cannot be configured from it. The address *is* the credential
here, exactly as it is for the [calendar feed](caldav.md#subscribing-to-a-feed).
Treat it like a password: anyone holding it reaches what you reach. The
server logs request paths without their query strings, so it does not end up
in the log.
!!! warning "It has to be reachable from the internet"
Claude connects from Anthropic's side, not from your browser. An instance only
reachable on your LAN or over a VPN cannot be used this way.
### With a header instead
Anything that *can* send a header should, and use the API path:
```bash
curl -H "Authorization: Bearer vrd_…" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{}}' \
https://todo.example.dk/api/v1/mcp
```
Both endpoints run the same server and reach the same things.
## What Claude can do
| Tool | What it does |
+47
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@@ -1787,6 +1787,53 @@ paths:
responses:
"302": { description: "Back into the app, with the outcome as a query parameter." }
/mcp:
post:
tags: [integrations]
summary: The MCP endpoint, with the token in the query string.
description: |
The same server as `/api/v1/mcp`, for a client that can only be given a
URL. Claude's custom-connector dialog asks for a name, an address and
OAuth client credentials — there is no field for a bearer token — so the
API path cannot be configured from it.
The key is the only credential accepted here. A session cookie is
ignored: this route sits outside the CSRF check, and honouring a cookie
would make it a cross-site request that acts as whoever is signed in.
security: []
parameters:
- name: key
in: query
required: true
schema: { type: string, example: vrd_… }
description: A personal API token. Treat the whole address as a password.
requestBody:
required: true
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
required: [jsonrpc, method]
properties:
jsonrpc: { type: string, const: "2.0" }
id: { oneOf: [{ type: string }, { type: integer }] }
method: { type: string }
params: { type: object }
responses:
"200":
description: A JSON-RPC response.
content:
application/json:
schema:
type: object
properties:
jsonrpc: { type: string, const: "2.0" }
id: { oneOf: [{ type: string }, { type: integer }] }
result: { type: object }
error: { type: object }
"202": { description: A notification. No body. }
"401": { $ref: "#/components/responses/Unauthorized" }
/.well-known/caldav:
get:
tags: [integrations]