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Shinzo MCP Server

The Shinzo MCP server gives your AI assistants and agents direct access to the Shinzo platform. Once connected, you can deploy agents, manage MCP servers, send messages, and more — all from within Claude Code or any MCP-compatible client.
Server URL: https://api.app.shinzo.ai/v1/mcpTransport: Streamable HTTPAuth: Bearer token (your Shinzo API key)

Prerequisites

Before connecting, you’ll need:
  1. A Shinzo accountsign up at app.shinzo.ai
  2. A Shinzo API key — generate one from Settings → API Keys in the platform
Your API key starts with sk-. When configuring clients, the full Authorization header value should look like: Bearer sk-abc123def456... (include the word “Bearer” followed by a space and your key).

Connect Your MCP Client

Choose the setup method that works best for your MCP client. The fastest way to add Shinzo to Claude Code is with a single CLI command:
Replace YOUR_SHINZO_API_KEY with your actual API key.
Important: The --transport flag must come before the server name (shinzo) in the command. Placing it after will cause a parsing error.
After running this command, restart Claude Code. You can verify the connection with /mcp inside Claude Code — you should see shinzo listed as an available server.
You can also run /mcp inside a Claude Code session to verify all connected MCP servers and their tool counts.

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop uses mcp-remote as a bridge to HTTP MCP servers. Add the following to your Claude Desktop configuration file: Config file location:
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
mcp-remote requires Node.js. It will be downloaded automatically via npx on first use. Restart Claude Desktop after updating the config file.

Generic MCP Client Configuration

For any MCP client that supports HTTP transport (Streamable HTTP or SSE) — including Cursor, Windsurf, VS Code Copilot, and others — use these connection details: Example mcpServers config block (Cursor / Windsurf format):
Config field names vary by client. Cursor and Windsurf use "type": "http". Other clients (e.g. VS Code Copilot extensions) may use "transportType" or similar. Consult your client’s documentation if the above doesn’t work — the URL and Authorization header values are always the same.

Custom Agents (TypeScript / Python)

You can connect your own agents to the Shinzo MCP server using the official MCP SDKs.

Available Tools

Once connected, you’ll have access to 66 tools across 9 categories:

Analytics (4 tools)

Monitor token usage, costs, and session activity. Usage examples:
  • “How many tokens did I use today?”
  • “Show me the most expensive sessions this month”
  • “Get details for session abc-123”

Agent Management (11 tools)

Create, configure, and control your AI agents. Usage examples:
  • “Create a research agent with 2GB storage”
  • “List all active agents”
  • “Pause agent abc-123 while I update its config”
  • “Add 100k tokens to agent abc-123’s balance”

Agent Messaging (3 tools)

Send messages to agents and retrieve conversation history. Usage examples:
  • “Send ‘analyze this dataset’ to agent abc-123”
  • “Show unread messages for agent abc-123”
  • “List all conversations for agent abc-123”

Agent Filesystem (17 tools)

Full programmatic access to agent workspace files and directories.

File Operations (5 tools)

Directory Operations (2 tools)

Bulk Operations (3 tools)

Metadata (2 tools)

Archives (2 tools)

Usage examples:
  • “Read the config.json file from agent abc-123”
  • “Create a requirements.txt file in agent abc-123’s workspace”
  • “Search for ‘TODO’ in all Python files for agent abc-123”
  • “Create a backup archive of agent abc-123’s entire workspace”

Agent Schedules & Triggers (11 tools)

Automate agent tasks with recurring cron schedules and event-driven webhook triggers.

Cron Schedules (7 tools)

Webhook Triggers (4 tools)

Usage examples:
  • “Create a daily standup reminder at 9am PST for agent abc-123”
  • “Set up a webhook trigger for agent abc-123 to process GitHub push events”
  • “List all schedules for agent abc-123”
  • “Show execution history for schedule xyz-789”
  • “Disable the weekend backup schedule for agent abc-123”
Cron Schedule Examples:
  • 0 9 * * 1-5 — Every weekday at 9:00 AM
  • 0 */4 * * * — Every 4 hours
  • 0 0 * * 0 — Every Sunday at midnight
  • 30 14 1 * * — First day of every month at 2:30 PM
Webhook Authentication: Webhooks support both X-Webhook-Secret (plain secret) and X-Hub-Signature-256 (GitHub-style HMAC) headers for secure validation.

Discord Integration (3 tools)

Connect agents to Discord for user interactions. Usage examples:
  • “Generate Discord link code for agent abc-123”
  • “Check Discord status for agent abc-123”
  • “Unlink Discord from agent abc-123”

Slack Integration (3 tools)

Connect agents to Slack for team communication. Usage examples:
  • “Generate Slack link code for agent abc-123”
  • “Check Slack status for agent abc-123”
  • “Unlink Slack from agent abc-123”
Note: Slack integration requires either the centralized Shinzo Slack bot or a custom Slack bot configured for your agent. See the Slack Integration Guide for setup instructions.

Telegram Integration (3 tools)

Connect agents to Telegram for user interactions. Usage examples:
  • “Generate Telegram link code for agent abc-123”
  • “Check Telegram status for agent abc-123”
  • “Unlink Telegram from agent abc-123”

MCP Server Management (13 tools)

Register, configure, and manage MCP servers for your agents.

Server CRUD (5 tools)

Server Operations (2 tools)

Access Management (3 tools)

Usage examples:
  • “Register the GitHub MCP server for my agents”
  • “Grant agent abc-123 access to the github server”
  • “Check health of the filesystem server”
  • “List all agents that can access the github server”

Example: Create Your First Agent

Via Claude Code (conversational)

Once connected, you can ask Claude to create and manage agents in plain English:

Via the TypeScript SDK (programmatic)


Troubleshooting

  • Verify your API key is correct and active — check Settings → API Keys
  • Make sure you’re passing the full key (starts with sk-...), not just the key prefix
  • Check that the Authorization header is formatted as Bearer YOUR_KEY (with a space between “Bearer” and the key)
  • Run claude mcp list to verify the server was added
  • Restart Claude Code after adding the server
  • Check for errors with claude mcp get shinzo
  • Try removing and re-adding: claude mcp remove shinzo then re-run the add command
  • Ensure Node.js is installed: node --version
  • Try running npx mcp-remote --version to test if mcp-remote works
  • Check Claude Desktop logs for detailed error messages
  • Make sure there are no JSON syntax errors in your config file

Next Steps

Shinzo Agents Docs

Learn about deploying and managing AI agents

API Reference

Explore the full Shinzo REST API

Agent Analytics

Monitor your agents with analytics

Support

Get help from the Shinzo team