Client Configuration

Every snippet below shows two blocks — use the Production block for real work, the Staging block for development and testing against mcp-staging.getadva.ai.

All snippets default to API-key auth (X-API-Key header). To use OAuth instead, remove the headers object — the client opens a browser on first use and redirects you to app.getadva.ai to authorize (or staging.getadva.ai when using the staging endpoint). See Authentication for what that flow looks like.

Claude Desktop

Edit your Claude Desktop config file:

OS	Path
macOS	~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows	%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux	~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add (or merge into) an mcpServers entry:

Production:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva": {
      "url": "https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Staging:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva-staging": {
      "url": "https://mcp-staging.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_staging_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop. The Adva tools appear in the hammer icon in the chat input.

Cursor

Edit Cursor’s MCP config at Settings → MCP (or directly in ~/.cursor/mcp.json):

Production:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva": {
      "url": "https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Staging:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva-staging": {
      "url": "https://mcp-staging.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_staging_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Cursor. Tools appear in the agent surface.

Claude Code

Claude Code reads MCP servers from its config. The easiest way to add Adva is:

Production:

claude mcp add --transport http adva https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp

Staging:

claude mcp add --transport http adva-staging https://mcp-staging.getadva.ai/mcp

By default this uses OAuth — Claude Code opens a browser the first time you invoke a tool. To use an API key instead, pass a header when adding the server:

claude mcp add --transport http adva https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp --header "X-API-Key: adva_k_your_key_here"

Running claude mcp list will show ✗ Failed to connect for the Adva entry until you invoke a tool for the first time and complete the OAuth sign-in. This is expected — the browser handshake only runs lazily on the first tool call, so until then Claude Code has no access token to present.

MCP Inspector

The MCP Inspector is the easiest way to try the server without configuring a full chat client. It runs locally and gives you a tool-call playground.

Production:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest
# In the UI, set:
#   Transport: Streamable HTTP
#   URL: https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp
#   Auth: OAuth (recommended for a manual session)
#         or Header "X-API-Key" = "adva_k_your_key_here"

Staging:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector@latest
# In the UI, set:
#   Transport: Streamable HTTP
#   URL: https://mcp-staging.getadva.ai/mcp
#   Auth: OAuth
#         or Header "X-API-Key" = "adva_k_your_staging_key_here"

Click Connect, then List tools — you should see all 11 Adva tools.

Continue

Continue reads MCP servers from ~/.continue/config.json. Add an mcpServers block:

Production:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva": {
      "url": "https://mcp.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Staging:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "adva-staging": {
      "url": "https://mcp-staging.getadva.ai/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "adva_k_your_staging_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Reload Continue from the command palette.

ChatGPT Connectors

Not supported today. ChatGPT’s current connector surface doesn’t speak the Streamable HTTP MCP transport that the Adva server implements. Use Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code, Continue, or any other Streamable HTTP-capable client instead.