MCP desktop clients
Common desktop AI apps and clients that work well with Onboard MCP.
Local-first AI workspaces and desktop clients are strong surfaces for MCP with Onboard. We position this as operational AI—onboarding copilots, launch coordination, and CS workflows—not only “connect a chatbot.”
Start with MCP setup for the production base URL, the
/mcp/sse, /mcp/messages, and /mcp/rpc endpoints (no trailing slash), your
API key, and the Amazon Quick walkthrough. For how to connect any supported
client (including OAuth and MCP Inspector testing), use
Connecting to Onboard MCP.
For the full curriculum (introduction, security, workflows, automation), see Introduction to MCP and the links in MCP.
API key vs OAuth (supported clients)
Not every AI client accepts the same auth shape. This matters for Security & permissions (MCP):
- API key — Admin configures one Onboard key; everyone using that MCP/chat in the product shares that key’s access.
- OAuth — Admin configures the connector; each person signs in with their own account before tools run.
Claude / Anthropic (Desktop org setup, custom connectors, OpenAI-style hosted connectors that mirror that pattern) are OAuth-only for remote MCP—they do not support an org-wide shared API key in the connector UI. See Anthropic’s connector authentication.
Supported AI clients (auth model)
| Client | Supported | Authentication |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Desktop | Yes | OAuth (per user) |
| Claude organization / custom connectors | Yes | OAuth (per user) |
| Amazon Quick | Yes | API key |
| OpenAI Agents (setup & chat) | Yes | OAuth (per user) |
| Raycast | Yes | API key |
| Cursor | Yes | API key |
| MCP Inspector | Yes | API key or OAuth (testing) |
| Gemini | Yes | API key |
| Perplexity | Yes | API key |
| cURL / raw HTTP | Yes | API key |
| Claude Code | Planned | API key (not yet documented here) |
| Paperclip, Microsoft Copilot | No | — |
“Supported” means we have or are adding a guide and have validated hosted MCP on that surface. Auth column is the primary path for Onboard—not every build of every app exposes both options.
Client guides
Learning path
Follow the numbered path on MCP (introduction → setup → security → workflow examples → example workflows → automation → desktop clients). Then pick a client guide from the table above. For REST semantics, see Authentication; for general hygiene, see the Security checklist.
See also
- Security checklist — keys, webhooks, MCP hygiene
- MCP setup — hosted URLs and authentication
- MCP overview — product positioning and related docs
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