Connecting a client

Start the server first — Settings → Connectors → Start server. The panel shows your endpoint URL and bearer token; every snippet below needs both. Pro tier and above.

Throughout this page, <PORT> and <TOKEN> are the values from that panel. The token is per-install — don’t copy one from a teammate’s machine, and don’t paste it into a shared repo.

Claude Code

One command, from any directory:

claude mcp add --transport http shellyard http://127.0.0.1:<PORT>/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>"

Confirm it attached:

claude mcp list

You want ✔ Connected next to shellyard. ✘ Failed to connect almost always means the ShellYard server isn’t running — check the Connectors panel.

Scope

The command above writes to your current project’s entry. To make ShellYard available in every project instead:

claude mcp add --transport http shellyard --scope user http://127.0.0.1:<PORT>/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>"

Prefer --scope user for ShellYard. Your inventory isn’t project-specific, and --scope project would write the bearer token into a .mcp.json that could end up committed.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop adds remote servers through its own UI rather than a config file:

1. Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector
2. Paste the endpoint URL from the ShellYard Connectors panel
3. Add the header Authorization: Bearer <TOKEN>

The connector shows up in the attachment menu in any new chat.

Ollama and other local models

Ollama has no MCP client of its own — it serves models, it doesn’t attach to tool servers. You need an MCP-capable client pointed at your local Ollama model, with ShellYard added as an HTTP server.

Any client that speaks streamable-HTTP MCP works. The two values it needs are the same as above: the endpoint URL and the bearer token as an Authorization header. Consult your client’s docs for where those go — most use a JSON block shaped like:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "shellyard": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://127.0.0.1:<PORT>/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <TOKEN>" }
    }
  }
}

streamable-http and http are the same transport — the MCP spec uses the longer name, and most clients accept both.

ChatGPT

Not supported. ChatGPT’s connectors run from OpenAI’s servers and reach out to a public URL; they cannot reach 127.0.0.1 on your machine. There is no ShellYard setting that changes this, because the fix would mean exposing your device access to the public internet. See the security model.

Verifying the connection

Ask the attached assistant something only ShellYard could answer:

List the connection folders in my Acme space.

If it comes back with your real folder names, you’re wired up. If it says it has no such tool, the client attached but didn’t load the tool list — restart the client.

Rotating the token

Connectors panel → Rotate token. Every attached client drops immediately and has to be re-added with the new value. Rotate if a token lands somewhere it shouldn’t — a committed config file, a screen share, a pasted log.