MCP Server Integration

OwnDocs ships a built-in Model Context Protocol (MCP) server that exposes your documentation to AI tools. Any MCP-compatible client — Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, and others — can search your docs and fetch page content using your own documentation URL.

The server is a single stateless HTTP endpoint. Every request is independent and carries its own protocol metadata — there is no session or cookie to configure or maintain. Standard MCP clients connect with the usual initialize handshake; the OwnDocs protocol headers are optional.

What you can do

The server exposes two tools. Pick the one that fits the task.

For the exact argument types, defaults, and environment variables, see the MCP Server feature page.

Prerequisites

• A deployed OwnDocs site on a URL your client can reach over HTTPS.
• Access to the environment variables on your hosting platform, so you can set MCP_ENABLED and MCP_BEARER_TOKEN.
• An MCP client that supports remote HTTP servers, such as Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, or Windsurf.

Setup

Follow these three steps to connect a client. The same steps work on any domain and hosting provider — you only change your own URL and token.

Connect your client

Add your endpoint URL to your client's MCP server configuration, along with the bearer token from Setup if you generated one. Private mode always needs the token. In public mode, include it only if you set one — otherwise drop the headers block from any example below and connect with the URL alone.

Claude Code

The terminal CLI and the Desktop app's Code tab share the same configuration: .mcp.json at your project root, or ~/.claude.json for a setup that follows you across projects.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "owndocs": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://docs.example.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-long-random-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Or skip the JSON and let the CLI write it for you:

claude mcp add --transport http owndocs https://docs.example.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer your-long-random-token"

The Desktop app's Chat tab has its own configuration — see below.

Claude Desktop (Chat tab)

Bridge the Chat tab to your endpoint with mcp-remote, which proxies a remote HTTP server over stdio:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "owndocs": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://docs.example.com/api/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:Bearer your-long-random-token"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Edit the file at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows, then restart Claude Desktop.

Cursor

In Cursor's MCP settings, add a remote HTTP server with these fields:

• Type — HTTP
• URL — https://docs.example.com/api/mcp
• Authorization header — Bearer your-long-random-token

Windsurf

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "owndocs": {
      "url": "https://docs.example.com/api/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer your-long-random-token"
      }
    }
  }
}

Generic client

Any MCP-compatible client uses the same two values:

Endpoint: https://docs.example.com/api/mcp
Authorization header: Bearer your-long-random-token

Verify the connection

Once connected, ask the client to list tools. It should show search_docs and fetch_page. Then ask it to search your documentation — if it returns matching pages, the integration is working.

Troubleshooting