Connect to Authoring MCP Server

ClickHelp Authoring MCP Server lets you connect your portal to AI assistants so they can work with your documentation the same way a human would — reading, searching, creating, and editing content. Detailed instructions for a particular AI agent can be found in the correponsing section.


Before you start

To set up the connection, you need to allow MCP connections for your portal and get your portal Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL. For this, go to your portal settings, AI integrations → MCP server. The page has two independent blocks—Authoring MCP Server and Published Docs MCP Server—each with its own checkbox and its own endpoint URL. Select the checkbox in the Authoring MCP Server block and copy the URL from there. 

The Authoring MCP Server URL  looks something like this:  https://yourportal.clickhelp.co/authoring-mcp-server

Also, for better audit and permission control, we recommend using a dedicated account for the AI agent. To set it up, follow these steps:

  1. Create a separate Contributor or Power Reader account for the AI agent.
  2. Set up the corresponding permissions for this account, so the AI agent has access only to the selected projects.
  3. Log out of your portal in the current browser and log back in with the dedicated AI account — or open a separate browser profile/incognito session and log in there.
  4. Connect the Authoring MCP Server to your AI tool.

After the connection is established, the agent stores a token for this account and uses it for the next 30 days.

The portal session is only used once — at the moment of the initial connection. After that, the agent works with a stored token and does not depend on which account is currently logged in to the portal in your browser.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop lets you add custom MCP connectors.

Individual accounts (Free, Pro and Max plans)
  1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Customize section.
  2. Navigate to the Connectors section.
  3. Click the “+” button and select Add custom connector.
  4. Enter the connector's name and Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL.
  5. Click Add.
  6. In the Connectors list, find the newly added connector and click Connect.
  7. Authenticate with the dedicated ClickHelp account.
  8. You can now ask Claude questions about your documentation directly in the chat.
Team and Enterprise plans
  1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Organization settings.
  2. Navigate to the Connectors section and click Add custom connector.
  3. Enter your portal's Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL, define a name, and confirm.
  4. In the Connectors list, find the newly added connector and click Connect.
  5. Authenticate with the dedicated ClickHelp account.
  6. You can now ask Claude questions about your documentation directly in the chat.
For full details, see Connect to remote MCP Servers - Model Context Protocol and Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP.

Claude (Cloud)

Claude lets you add custom MCP connectors as well.

Individual accounts (Free, Pro and Max plans)
  1. Open Claude Desktop and go to Customize section.
  2. Navigate to the Connectors section.
  3. Click the “+” button and select Add custom connector.
  4. Enter the connector's name and Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL.
  5. Click Add.
  6. In the Connectors list, find the newly added connector and click Connect.
  7. Authenticate with the dedicated ClickHelp account.
  8. You can now send natural language questions about your documentation in Claude — no special commands needed.
Team and Enterprise plans
  1. In Claude (Cloud), open Organization settings and go to the Connectors section.
  2. Click Add custom connector.
  3. Enter the connector name and your portal's Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL.
  4. In the Connectors list, find the newly added connector and click Connect.
  5. Authenticate with the dedicated ClickHelp account.
  6. You can now send natural language questions about your documentation in Claude — no special commands needed.

For full details, see Connect to remote MCP Servers - Model Context Protocol and Get started with custom connectors using remote MCP.

Gemini CLI

You can connect Gemini CLI to an MCP server using the gemini mcp add command.

  1. Open Gemini CLI.
  2. Run the following command:
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    gemini mcp add --transport http <mcp-server-name> <authoring-mcp-server-endpoint-URL>
    where:
    • <mcp-server-name> is your custom server name
      For example,  my-mcp-server 
    • <authoring-mcp-server-endpoint-URL> is your Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL.
      For example,  https://us.mcp.clickhelp.com/portals/yourportal.clickhelp.co 
  3. ClickHelp tools will now be available during your sessions.

Alternatively, you can add the connection in the configuration file directly. For details, see the Gemini CLI MCP documentation.

Codex (OpenAI, ChatGPT)

You can configure both Codex Desktop and Codex CLI via config.toml file.

  1. Open ~/.codex/config.toml.
  2. Anywhere in the file, add the following section:
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    [mcp_servers.clickhelp]
url = "https://<region>.mcp.clickhelp.com/portals/<portalname>.clickhelp.co"
  3. Replace the placeholders:
    1. <region> with either eu, us or au, depending on the region of your server hosting.
    2. <portalname> with your actual portal name. 
  4. Save the file. 
  5. Relaunch the application or the CLI session.
  6. Authenticate in your ClickHelp portal:
    1. For CLI, enter codex mcp login clickhelp.
    2. For Codex Desktop, open Settings → MCP servers and click the Authenticate button.
  7. You can now work with your ClickHelp portal in Codex using natural language.

For full details, see the OpenAI Codex documentation.

Microsoft Copilot

Microsoft Copilot Studio supports MCP servers as tools for your agents.

  1. Open Copilot Studio.
  2. Go to the Tools page for your agent.
  3. Select Model Context Protocol.
  4. Click New tool and enter your portal's Authoring MCP Server endpoint URL.
  5. Your agent can now use ClickHelp documentation as a knowledge source.

For full details, see the Microsoft Copilot Studio documentation.