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claude.ai and Claude Desktop

On claude.ai and in Claude Desktop, MCP servers are added as connectors. A custom connector points Claude at a remote MCP server on the internet; Claude connects to it from Anthropic's cloud, not from your computer1.

The main MESA server you can add this way is Formation, CyVerse's hosted MCP server for the Discovery Environment, at https://de.cyverse.org/formation/mcp. With it, Claude can launch Discovery Environment apps, follow your analyses, and read and write your Data Store files, as you. CyVerse also hosts a public, read-only Data Store server at https://mcp-public.cyverse.ai/mcp, which you can add the same way (below). The installer's mesa-mcp and irods servers run on your own computer and are for Claude Code and the other agent clients.

Custom connectors are available on the Free, Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans; the Free plan allows one custom connector, so pick the one you need.

Add the Formation connector

  1. Go to Customize > Connectors. In Claude Desktop, choose Customize in the sidebar, then Connectors.
  2. Click + Add, then Add custom connector.
  3. Enter a name, for example CyVerse Formation.
  4. Enter the URL https://de.cyverse.org/formation/mcp exactly (no trailing slash) and click Continue.
  5. Review the authentication settings Claude detected and click Continue.
  6. Under Authentication, choose Sign in now (or Sign in when needed).
  7. Under OAuth client, choose Register automatically (not the default Use Claude's published identity). Formation registers Claude for you; there is no client ID or secret to enter.
  8. Leave Request headers empty and click Add.
  9. Sign in with your CyVerse username and password on the CyVerse page that opens.

An owner adds it once for the organization:

  1. Go to Organization settings > Connectors.
  2. Click Add, hover over Custom, and select Web.
  3. Enter a name (CyVerse Formation) and the URL https://de.cyverse.org/formation/mcp, and click Continue.
  4. Review the detected authentication, choose Register automatically under OAuth client, and click Add.

On Team, Owners and Primary Owners can add connectors; on Enterprise, so can people with a custom role that includes Manage access to Libraries.

Then each member connects it:

  1. Go to Customize > Connectors.
  2. Find CyVerse Formation (it has a Custom label) and click Connect.
  3. Sign in with your own CyVerse account.

Every member signs in separately, so Claude only reaches what that person can reach in CyVerse.

To change a connector's settings later, remove it and add it again.

Optional: public Data Store connector

CyVerse's public Data Store server reads the public collections under /iplant/home/shared with no sign-in. Add it as above, with these values:

  • Name: CyVerse Data Store (public)
  • URL: https://mcp-public.cyverse.ai/mcp
  • Authentication: No sign in

It cannot reach your own home folder; Formation's browse_data and upload_file do that.

Use it in a chat

  1. Click + at the lower left of the message box and choose Connectors.
  2. Switch CyVerse Formation on for the conversation.
  3. Ask, for example:
    • "Who am I in CyVerse, and what is in my home folder?"
    • "Find a JupyterLab app in the Discovery Environment and launch it for me."
    • "Which of my analyses are running? Stop the oldest one and save its outputs."

Keep approval on for the tools that change things — delete_data, upload_file, set_metadata, stop_analysis, and launch_app_and_wait — rather than allowing them always; you can also block individual tools in the connector's settings under Customize > Connectors. File contents Formation reads become part of the conversation. The Formation page lists every tool.

A connector you add on claude.ai is also available in Claude Desktop and in the Claude mobile apps once it is connected.

In Claude Code

If you are signed in to Claude Code with a claude.ai subscription, connectors you added on claude.ai are available there automatically; run /mcp to see them2. Connectors are not loaded when Claude Code runs with an API key or another model provider; register Formation directly instead (see Claude Code).

If Claude Code also has its own formation entry pointing at the same URL, Claude Code uses its own entry and hides the connector. An older local formation entry from the MESA installer does not count as the same server, so you would see both; re-run the installer or remove the old entry with claude mcp remove formation -s user.

Troubleshooting

Problem What to do
Connect fails or the CyVerse sign-in page shows an error Check the URL is exactly https://de.cyverse.org/formation/mcp. If it is, remove the connector, add it again, and choose Register automatically.
Tools fail with authentication errors after a while Go to Customize > Connectors, open CyVerse Formation, and connect again.
Formation does not answer at all Check https://status.cyverse.org for a CyVerse outage.

  1. Getting started with custom connectors using remote MCP, https://support.claude.com/en/articles/11175166-getting-started-with-custom-connectors-using-remote-mcp. ↩

  2. Claude Code MCP documentation, https://code.claude.com/docs/en/mcp. ↩

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