Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex to Chat Thing (MCP setup)

Connect your AI assistant to Chat Thing once, and it can build and manage your bots whenever you ask.

ℹ️

What you need

A Chat Thing account (sign up free) and an AI assistant that can add a remote MCP server over HTTP (sometimes called "Streamable HTTP" or a "custom connector"). Every client below does.

Who can do this: anyone with a Chat Thing account. Your assistant can only change bots in teams where you're an owner or admin.

The Chat Thing MCP address

Every assistant connects to the same address:

https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp

You don't paste a password or key. The first time your assistant connects, it opens a Chat Thing page in your browser. Sign in if asked, check the request and click Approve. See Authentication for what you're approving.

You can also find this address, and a ready-made setup prompt, on the Connect agent page in the Chat Thing app.

💡

Let your assistant set itself up

On the Connect agent page, click Copy setup prompt and paste it into your assistant. It reads this page and follows the steps for the client it's running in. If you're an AI agent reading this page: work out which client you are running in, follow that section below, then ask the user to approve access in their browser.

Desktop and web apps

These apps don't use a config file. You add Chat Thing from a settings screen and approve access in the same window.

Claude Desktop and Claude.ai

The Claude desktop app and Claude.ai use the same connectors screen. This is the Claude app, not the Claude Code command-line tool, and you can use either or both.

Open Settings → Connectors.
Click Add and choose Add custom connector.
Enter the name Chat Thing and the URL https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp, then click Add. Leave the advanced OAuth client ID and secret fields blank: Chat Thing registers Claude automatically.
Click Connect on the new connector and approve access on the Chat Thing page that opens.

Chat Thing now appears in your connectors list, and its tools are available in new chats.

ChatGPT

ChatGPT connects to MCP servers through its developer mode:

Open Settings → Apps & Connectors → Advanced settings and turn on Developer mode.
Back on Apps & Connectors, click Create to add a connector.
Enter the name Chat Thing and the URL https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp, choose OAuth for authentication, and create it.
Approve access on the Chat Thing page that opens.

ChatGPT is a separate product from Codex. For Codex, see Codex app or Codex CLI.

Codex app

The Codex desktop app stores MCP servers in the same ~/.codex/config.toml file as the Codex CLI.

Open Settings → Plugins, select the MCPs tab and click Add server.
Enter the name Chat Thing, set Type to Streamable HTTP and paste https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp. Leave the bearer token and header fields empty to connect with your browser (only fill in a bearer token if you're using an API key). Click Save.
Restart the server if Codex asks you to, then approve access on the Chat Thing page that opens.

Coding assistants and editors

These clients connect by running one command or adding a few lines to a config file. The first time the assistant uses Chat Thing, it opens your browser so you can approve access.

Claude Code

Run this in your terminal:

claude mcp add chatthing --transport http https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp

Codex CLI

Add the server to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.chatthing]
url = "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"

Cursor

Add the server to ~/.cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chatthing": {
      "url": "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add the server to ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chatthing": {
      "serverUrl": "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add the server to .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace:

{
  "servers": {
    "chatthing": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Zed

Add the server to your Zed settings.json (open it with zed: open settings file):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "chatthing": {
      "url": "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

When no Authorization header is set, Zed asks you to sign in through your browser.

Cline

Add the server to Cline's MCP settings (cline_mcp_settings.json). Set type to streamableHttp so it uses the current transport:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chatthing": {
      "type": "streamableHttp",
      "url": "https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Other assistants

Chat Thing follows the MCP standard, so any client that supports remote MCP servers over HTTP can connect. Use your client's usual way of adding an HTTP MCP server and point it at https://app.chatthing.ai/mcp.

Check it works

Ask your assistant:

List my Chat Thing bots.

It should reply with the bots in your account. Your assistant now appears under Connected agents on the Connect agent page in Chat Thing.

Next, try building a bot with your assistant, or see everything it can do.

Connect your AI assistant to Chat Thing