Connect AI tools

Thoughtstead speaks MCP — the protocol Claude, Cursor, and a growing list of AI tools use to read and act on outside data. Once connected, your AI tools can search Thoughtstead, list recent captures, look up people and decisions, and capture new thoughts — all scoped to exactly what you allow.

Create a key

In your app: Settings → MCP access. Give the key a name (e.g. laptop-claude), pick an access mode, and create it. The raw key is shown once, right after creation — copy it somewhere safe immediately, because Thoughtstead only stores a hash of it and can't show it to you again.

Three access modes are available:

Read only — search, list, and lookup tools only. A read-only key cannot capture a thought, record a decision, or touch the agent queue, even if a connected AI tool tries to call those tools — they're never registered for that key in the first place.
Read + write — every tool, including capturing thoughts and recording decisions.
Custom — pick the exact set of tools this key can call, tool by tool.

This is least-privilege by construction: a tool a key isn't scoped for doesn't exist for that key at all — it's never registered, not just hidden behind a permission check.

Connect a client

The MCP endpoint is the same for everyone:

https://app.thoughtstead.com/api/mcp/mcp

Every request needs your key as a bearer token: Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY.

A key belongs to the context you created it in. A key made in Business can never read your Personal context, whatever the connected tool asks for.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http thoughtstead https://app.thoughtstead.com/api/mcp/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY"

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop needs a small local bridge to attach an Authorization header to a remote MCP server. Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "thoughtstead": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://app.thoughtstead.com/api/mcp/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:Bearer ${THOUGHTSTEAD_MCP_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "THOUGHTSTEAD_MCP_KEY": "YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

Cursor talks to remote MCP servers directly. Add this to .cursor/mcp.json (project-level) or ~/.cursor/mcp.json (global):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "thoughtstead": {
      "url": "https://app.thoughtstead.com/api/mcp/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Revoking a key

Back in Settings → MCP access, click Revoke next to any key. Revoked keys stop working immediately — the client will get an authentication error on its next call.

Agents & approval — how tools like capture_thought and the agent queue tools fit into the bigger picture of what agents are and aren't allowed to do on their own.