Clients¶

Local clients start edi-mcp themselves over stdio; hosted deployments are reached over Streamable HTTP. The install script (scripts/install.sh) writes the stdio entries below for Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Codex CLI, Gemini CLI, Goose and OpenCode in one step; this page shows them for manual setup. The examples use edi-mcp on your PATH (see Install); replace it with an absolute path such as /home/me/edi-mcp/.venv/bin/edi-mcp when the client does not share your shell's PATH. JSON-configured clients do not expand ~ or $HOME, so use absolute paths there.

The key is optional; EDI API key shows how to create one. Every example passes it as EDI_API_KEY, the name EDI's own guides use. Put it in the client's environment settings, never in a shared or committed file. Leave it out and edi-mcp uses the anonymous DataONE backend.

Claude Code¶

claude mcp add edi -s user -e EDI_API_KEY="$EDI_API_KEY" -- edi-mcp --transport stdio
claude mcp list

-s user makes the server available in every project¹; drop the -e option to run without a key.

Claude Desktop¶

Edit claude_desktop_config.json and restart the app:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edi": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/edi-mcp",
      "args": ["--transport", "stdio"],
      "env": { "EDI_API_KEY": "paste-your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI¶

codex mcp add edi --env EDI_API_KEY="$EDI_API_KEY" -- edi-mcp --transport stdio
codex mcp list

This writes the server into ~/.codex/config.toml²; restart running sessions.

Without the CLI, add the table to ~/.codex/config.toml yourself:

[mcp_servers.edi]
command = "/absolute/path/to/edi-mcp"
args = []

[mcp_servers.edi.env]
EDI_API_KEY = "paste-your-key-here"

Gemini CLI¶

gemini mcp add --scope user -e EDI_API_KEY="$EDI_API_KEY" edi edi-mcp
gemini mcp list

or add the entry to ~/.gemini/settings.json³ (.gemini/settings.json in a project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "edi": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/edi-mcp",
      "args": [],
      "env": { "EDI_API_KEY": "paste-your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

Goose¶

Add an extension to ~/.config/goose/config.yaml (Windows: %APPDATA%\Block\goose\config\config.yaml)⁴, then restart Goose Desktop or start a new CLI session. goose configure → Add Extension → Command-line Extension does the same interactively.

extensions:
  edi:
    enabled: true
    type: stdio
    name: edi
    cmd: /absolute/path/to/edi-mcp
    args: []
    envs:
      EDI_API_KEY: paste-your-key-here
    timeout: 300

OpenCode¶

Add to ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json⁵. This is the layout OpenCode's documentation shows. The install script, following gbif-mcp's, writes "mcp": {"servers": {…}} instead unless opencode --version reports 1.x; if your OpenCode does not pick the server up, move the entry to the layout its documentation gives.

{
  "mcp": {
    "edi": {
      "type": "local",
      "command": ["/absolute/path/to/edi-mcp", "--transport", "stdio"],
      "enabled": true,
      "environment": { "EDI_API_KEY": "paste-your-key-here" }
    }
  }
}

VS Code¶

Add to .vscode/mcp.json in a workspace, or to your user configuration⁶. An inputs prompt keeps the key out of the file:

{
  "inputs": [
    { "type": "promptString", "id": "edi-api-key", "description": "EDI API key", "password": true }
  ],
  "servers": {
    "edi": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/edi-mcp",
      "args": ["--transport", "stdio"],
      "env": { "EDI_API_KEY": "${input:edi-api-key}" }
    }
  }
}

Any other stdio client¶

Run edi-mcp --transport stdio (bare edi-mcp does the same) with the key in the environment. The server speaks MCP 2026-07-28 and still accepts clients on earlier protocol revisions over stdio.

A hosted server (HTTP)¶

claude mcp add --transport http edi https://edi-mcp.example.org/mcp \
  --header "X-EDI-Key: $EDI_API_KEY"

Each user sends their own key in X-EDI-Key; the server honours it only when its public_base_url is https:// (see Transports). Over HTTP the planned download tools are not offered.