Installation

Copy the Ordinal MCP server URL

https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp

Open Claude's connector settings

Opens Claude’s connector settings in a new tab.

Open in Claude

Add the Ordinal connector

Click Add custom connector, paste the URL you copied, name it Ordinal, and save.

Connect your Ordinal account

On the next screen, click Connect. A browser window opens — sign in with your Ordinal account and approve access. The connector should now show Connected.

Try it out

Ask Claude in any chat: “List my Ordinal workspaces.” Claude should call the ordinal_get_workspace_context tool and return your workspaces.

Troubleshooting

• I don’t see “Add custom connector”: Custom connectors require a Max, Team, or Enterprise plan. Upgrade your Claude subscription at claude.ai/settings/billing. Make sure you’re on the latest Claude Desktop version if you don’t see the option there either.
• The connector won’t sign in: Update Claude Desktop to the latest version — older builds don’t support OAuth-based MCP connectors. Restart the app after updating, then retry from the connector settings.
• I don’t see Ordinal tools in the chat: Open the connector panel in chat (the icon in the message bar) and confirm Ordinal is enabled. If it says Reconnect, click it to re-run the sign-in.

claude mcp add --transport http ordinal https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp

claude mcp list

Troubleshooting

• The sign-in browser window doesn’t open: Update Claude Code to the latest version — OAuth support was added in recent releases. Run the add command again after upgrading.
• My session expired: Claude Code refreshes your token automatically in the background. If that fails, remove and re-add the server: claude mcp remove ordinal then claude mcp add --transport http ordinal https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp.

Open MCP server settings

In the Codex desktop app, go to Settings → MCP Servers and click Add custom MCP.

Fill in the Ordinal server details

• Name: Ordinal
• Transport: select Streamable HTTP
• URL: https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp

Leave Bearer token env var, Headers, and Headers from environment variables empty — Ordinal uses OAuth, not a bearer token.

Click Save.

Sign in with Ordinal

Codex won’t trigger OAuth automatically. Just ask Codex in chat: “Authenticate the Ordinal MCP server.” Codex kicks off the OAuth flow and opens a browser window — sign in with your Ordinal account and approve access.

Verify the connection

Back in Settings → MCP Servers, the Ordinal entry should now show as connected and list its tools.

Try it out

Ask Codex: “List my Ordinal workspaces.” It should call the ordinal_get_workspace_context tool.

Troubleshooting

• I don’t see “Add custom MCP”: Update to the latest Codex release — custom Streamable HTTP servers were added in a recent version.
• Tool calls fail with an auth error: Your OAuth token may have expired. Ask Codex to re-authenticate the Ordinal MCP server.
• The sign-in browser window doesn’t open: Make sure Codex can reach https://app.tryordinal.com. If you’re behind a corporate proxy, configure it and retry.

codex mcp add ordinal --url https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp

codex mcp login ordinal

Troubleshooting

• codex mcp add says it’s an unknown command: You’re on an older Codex CLI build without remote MCP support. Upgrade to the latest release and try again.
• Tool calls fail with an auth error: Your OAuth token may have expired. Re-run codex mcp login ordinal to refresh it.
• The sign-in browser window doesn’t open: Make sure Codex can reach https://app.tryordinal.com. If you’re behind a corporate proxy, configure it and retry.

One-click install

Install the Ordinal MCP server. Sign in with your Ordinal account when prompted.

Install in Cursor

Manual install

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "ordinal": {
      "url": "https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

• Cursor doesn’t open a sign-in window: Make sure you’re on a recent Cursor version with OAuth MCP support. Restart Cursor after editing the MCP config.
• I see a red dot next to the server: Click the server entry in MCP settings to see the error. Most common causes: your sign-in token expired (click Re-authorize to refresh it), or the URL is wrong (it should be exactly https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp with no trailing slash or /api/ prefix).

One-click install

Manual install

{
  "servers": {
    "ordinal": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

• The one-click button does nothing: Make sure VS Code is registered as the handler for vscode:// URLs. On Windows and macOS, this happens on install; on Linux you may need to associate the scheme manually. If the button still fails, use the manual install steps above.
• I use VS Code Insiders: The one-click button targets stable VS Code. If you use Insiders, follow the manual install steps above — they work the same in both editions.
• I don’t see Ordinal tools in Copilot Chat: Open the MCP view in the sidebar and confirm ordinal shows as connected. If it says Sign in required, click it to run the OAuth flow.

If your client supports the Streamable HTTP transport with OAuth, point it at:

https://app.tryordinal.com/mcp

Then follow the client’s own MCP setup docs. Reach out to support@tryordinal.com if you get stuck.