Quickstart: Claude Desktop

1. Add a custom connector

Claude Desktop connects to remote MCP servers through Settings → Connectors, not through claude_desktop_config.json (that file is only read for local/stdio servers).

1. Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Connectors
2. Click Add custom connector
3. Set:
   • Name: DeeCee.ai
   • URL: https://api.deecee.ai/mcp

2. Authenticate

Two options. OAuth is preferred.

Option A — Sign in with DeeCee.ai (OAuth)

1. Leave Authentication on the detected OAuth setting.
2. Click Connect. Claude opens the DeeCee.ai sign-in page.
3. Sign in and approve access. Claude stores the token. No key to manage.

Claude.ai and Claude Desktop use the redirect URI https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback. Claude Code uses a loopback redirect (http://localhost/callback or http://127.0.0.1/callback, any port).

Option B — API key header

Use this for custom connectors or scripts that can't complete a browser sign-in.

1. Follow Authentication to create a key at Settings → API Keys.

2. Set Authentication to None, open Request headers, and add:

   Header	Value
   Authorization	Bearer dc_live_your_key_here

   Include Bearer and the space before your key. Ignore Claude's "will likely fail without sign-in" warning once the header is set.

Overview and links: deecee.ai/connectors/claude.

3. Try it

Start a new conversation and ask something like:

Help me decide whether to migrate our CI pipeline from Jenkins to GitHub Actions.

Claude should reach for the start_decision_brief tool automatically. You can also explicitly ask it to "use DeeCee.ai to run a full decision" — that triggers the run_full_decision guided prompt, which walks through creating the brief, interviewing for context if needed, confirming the recommended complexity and framework with you, running the analysis, and reading back the recommendation. See the MCP Tool Reference for the full step-by-step sequence.

Using Claude Code instead

Claude Code connects via the CLI rather than a settings dialog:

claude mcp add --transport http deecee https://api.deecee.ai/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer dc_live_your_key_here"

Troubleshooting

• "Unauthorized" errors — double-check the header value includes Bearer (with the space) before your key, and that the key hasn't been revoked in Settings → API Keys.
• "Couldn't register with DeeCee.ai's sign-in service" — the OAuth handshake failed. Remove the connector and re-add it (Claude caches failed attempts). If it still fails, use the API key header (Option B) and email support@deecee.ai.
• Tools don't appear — reconnect the connector (Claude Desktop caches the tool list per session).
• A tool call returns an error about credits — see Credits & Pricing; you may be out of monthly tokens.