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An MCP server is a plug-in that hands the agent a set of tools, such as “search Linear issues” or “fetch the current docs for this library”. Alpha runs two kinds. A remote server is hosted on the web and reached through Alpha. A local server is a command that starts inside every session’s machine. Both live in Integrations, on the MCPs tab, and whatever you add there works in every session you own. To sign in to an app such as Gmail or Slack instead, see Connect an app. To call your remote servers from the app the agent builds, see Use integrations in your app.
The Integrations dialog with the MCPs tab selected. Under the title and its lede are the tabs Connectors, MCPs (selected) and Connected, a search box with the placeholder Search — Gmail, Stripe, Notion, maps…, and the dropdowns All auth and All categories. Under them are the sub-tabs Remote 17 (selected), Local 3 and Connected 0, then a Refresh button and an outlined Add server button with a plus icon at the right. A three-column grid of cards follows, sorted A to Z: Apollo, Calendly, Clay, ElevenLabs, Exa, Firecrawl, HubSpot, Linear, Miro, Notion, PostHog, Sentry, Stripe, Supabase and Tally, with Tavily and Wispr Flow cut off at the bottom. Each card shows its logo, a blue Verified check, a violet Remote MCP badge, an auth badge and a one-line tagline, such as Linear's Issues, projects, cycles and comments. Exa carries No auth and a Connect button; every other card carries OAuth and a Sign in button.

MCPs → Remote lists the hosted servers your Alpha offers, and Add server at the right adds your own.

Remote or local?

The two kinds differ in where the server runs and who holds its credentials. That decides what can reach it.
Not sure? If the vendor gives you an address ending in /mcp, add it as a remote server. If its README tells you to run npx … or uvx …, add it as a local one.

Connect a server from the catalog

Open Integrations in the sidebar, then the MCPs tab. Every catalog server carries a blue Verified check, because Alpha curated it. What you click depends on the sub-tab. The Local catalog has three servers. None needs a key. New tools reach a session with its next message. If the agent is in the middle of a turn, they arrive when that turn ends, and a session that’s asleep picks up local servers when it wakes.
If you don’t see a hosted server you expected under Remote, or the tab is empty, it isn’t turned on for your Alpha. An admin chooses which hosted servers the catalog offers.

Add your own remote server

Use this for a hosted server that isn’t in the catalog, such as your company’s internal tools. Alpha’s server calls it, so the address must be reachable from the public internet.
1

Open the form

On MCPs, click Add server. The panel “Add an MCP server” opens. Under Where it runs, pick Remote · hosted.
2

Name it and give its address

Type a Server name, such as “Harbor tools”. In Streamable HTTP URL, paste the server’s MCP endpoint in full, such as https://tools.example.com/mcp. It is “usually …/mcp — not the site’s root”.
3

Choose how it signs in

Pick one option under Authentication.
The Add an MCP server panel open at the right of the Integrations dialog, which stays on MCPs → Remote 17 behind it, with the cards Apollo, Calendly, Clay, ElevenLabs, Exa, Firecrawl, HubSpot, Linear, Miro, Notion, PostHog and Sentry. The panel reads: An MCP server of your own: a command started inside every session's sandbox, or a hosted one reached through Alpha's Tools Gateway. Under Where it runs, Remote · hosted is selected, beside Local · in the sandbox. A card headed REMOTE MCP · GATEWAY-MANAGED holds a Server name field with the placeholder Company tools and a Streamable HTTP URL field with the placeholder https://, with the hint The server's MCP endpoint, usually …/mcp — not the site's root. The gateway calls it; sandboxes never see it. The Authentication toggle shows None (selected), API key and OAuth 2.0. Below the card, a grey note reads Once added (and signed in, for OAuth) the agent may call its tools. Credentials stay on the server; sandboxes only ever hold the session key. An Add remote server button sits under the note.

Authentication starts on None; pick API key or OAuth 2.0 when the server needs a sign-in.

4

Add it, then sign in

Click Add remote server. With None or API key, Alpha lists the server’s tools straight away. With OAuth 2.0, the server’s panel opens on “Sign in”: click Connect OAuth and approve in the popup.
Addresses on localhost or a private network are refused, so an app running in a session’s Preview can’t be added this way.

Add your own local server

Use this for a server that its README starts with a command. Node, npx, Python and uvx are already in every session’s machine.
1

Open the form

On MCPs, click Add server. Where it runs opens on Local · in the sandbox.
2

Name the server

Type a Server key, such as context7: up to 40 lowercase letters, digits, - and _, starting with a letter. “The agent’s tools are named after it.” Title and Description are optional, but the description is “Named to the agent, so keep it about what the tools do.”
3

Enter the command

Split the README’s command into Command, the first word, and Arguments, one per line. For example, this command:
becomes Command npx, with -y and @upstash/context7-mcp on two lines under Arguments.
The Integrations dialog on MCPs → Remote 17, with the Add an MCP server panel open at its right and a close X at the top. Behind the panel, on the left, sit Refresh, Add server and the Remote cards Apollo, Calendly, Clay, ElevenLabs, Exa, Firecrawl, HubSpot, Linear, Miro and Notion. The panel reads An MCP server of your own: a command started inside every session's sandbox, or a hosted one reached through Alpha's Tools Gateway. Under Where it runs, Local · in the sandbox is selected, beside Remote · hosted. A card headed LOCAL MCP · RUNS IN EVERY SESSION'S SANDBOX holds empty fields showing their placeholders: Server key my-server, with the hint The agent's tools are named after it.; Title My server; Description Searches our internal wiki, with the hint Named to the agent, so keep it about what the tools do.; Command npx, with the hint Node, Python and npx are in the sandbox.; Arguments -y, @scope/package and --flag on three lines, with the hint One per line.; and Environment settings LOG_LEVEL=info and SERVICE_TOKEN=${MY_SECRET} on two lines, with a hint that begins NAME=VALUE, one per line. The server already gets every. The rest of the form is cut off at the bottom.

A local server is a command and its arguments; a key goes in by its secret's name, never its value.

4

Add environment settings, if any

The server already gets every secret and integration variable in the session. Use Environment settings only to set plain options, or to hand a secret over under the name the server expects, one NAME=VALUE per line:
Alpha fills in ${NOTION_API_KEY} from your secrets when the server starts, so the key itself is never stored with the server.
5

Add it

Leave Startup timeout (s) at 180 unless the server is slow to start. The first start on a new machine downloads the package. Click Add local server. Its tools reach every session you own from that session’s next message.
A local server runs inside every session you own, with the same rights as the agent. It can read your project, run commands and see every secret in the environment. Install only servers you trust, from their publisher’s own package name.

Let the agent add one

You can also ask the agent. It installs a local server for your account, never only for its own machine, so every session you own gets it. Alpha will:
  1. Install the server under your account. It appears under MCPs → Local, owned by you, with a startup timeout of 180 seconds.
  2. Tell you its tools arrive with your next message, in this session and every other, with nothing to restart.
  3. If a server needs a key, hand it over by the name of a secret rather than its value, and ask you to add that secret. It never asks you to paste the key into a message.
A remote server needs your sign-in, so the agent posts a card instead: “The agent wants to use Harbor tools”. Connect Harbor tools opens the remote form filled with the name and address. Choose the sign-in, add it, then click Tell the agent to continue. See When the agent asks you to connect. The agent can add servers, but only you can edit or remove them.

Manage your servers

Click any server’s card to open its panel. Changes reach every session with its next message.

A remote server

The panel’s first card shows the server’s status, and its buttons change with it. Revoke cuts the agent off at once and leaves the server listed as Disconnected. There is no way to switch it back on. Delete removes it after you confirm “Delete Linear? The agent loses its tools on its next message.”

A local server

A server whose key is missing still starts; its tools fail to authenticate. The agent says so and carries on without them.

Check what every session gets

Type /mcp on the home screen to see the servers every new session starts with, without starting one. browser and alpha_tools are built in and can’t be removed. Remote servers have no rows of their own, because their tools reach the agent through alpha_tools. Manage servers opens the catalog. Inside a session, /mcp posts a card listing each server the agent has loaded, with its number of tools and the first few by name. With Claude Code, /mcp reconnect, /mcp enable and /mcp disable manage a server for that session. See Slash commands.

Limits and errors

These limits are fixed in Alpha. For every other limit, see Limits.

Next steps

Use integrations in your app

Remote servers reach your app through two variables. Local ones stay with the agent.

Secrets

Store the keys your local servers read, once for every session or for one only.

Connect an app

Gmail, Slack and other apps without an MCP server connect as ready-made connectors.

Skills

Tools give the agent new abilities. A skill teaches it how your team uses them.