Connect Claude Desktop and claude.ai

Claude Desktop and claude.ai connect to a gateway as a custom connector. The person signs in with a gateway user in the browser. These clients do not use API keys.

Before you begin

A gateway that serves at least one API. See Create a gateway.
A gateway user in the environment you connect to. See Create a gateway user.

For Claude's own screens, see Getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP in the Claude help center.

Copy the MCP URL

In the portal, go to Agent Gateway and select your gateway.
Select the Connect tab.
In the Endpoints card, copy the MCP URL.

The URL has this form:

https://gateway.faustine.ai/<workspace>/<gateway>/mcp

Add the connector

The steps are the same in Claude Desktop and in claude.ai.

In Claude, go to Settings > Connectors and select Add custom connector.
Enter a name for the connector, such as the name of your gateway.
Paste the MCP URL.
Leave the OAuth client ID and client secret fields empty. The gateway registers the client on its own.
Connect. A browser window opens on the gateway's sign-in page.
Enter the username and password of the gateway user.

On claude.ai, an organization admin can add the connector for the whole organization. Each person still signs in with their own gateway user.

After you sign in, the page confirms that access was granted and Claude lists the gateway's tools. Which tools it lists depends on the gateway's serving mode.

Make the first call

Ask Claude what it can do with the gateway, or ask for something the API returns, such as a list of contacts.

In the portal, the request appears in the gateway's Logs tab, and the Claude Desktop or claude.ai card in the Connect tab shows when the client was last seen.

When Claude calls an operation that requires confirmation and the gateway user is set to Ask the person, a confirmation card appears in the chat and nothing runs until the person decides. See Confirmation.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
The sign-in page rejects the username and password	The gateway user belongs to another environment. Each environment has its own users.	Use the MCP URL of the environment where the user was created, or create the user in this one.

Next steps

Create a gateway user: give each person their own user and scope.
Confirmation: what the person sees before a write runs.
Connect clients: the other clients a gateway supports.