Connecting over MCP

Connect your AI

Add this address to your AI. It handles the setup and checks with you when it needs to.

MCP addresshttps://stationzero.services/mcp

Run this once in a terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http station-zero https://stationzero.services/mcp

Install with one click, or paste this into .cursor/mcp.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "station-zero": { "url": "https://stationzero.services/mcp" } } }

Install in Cursor

Install with one click, or paste this into .vscode/mcp.json:

{ "servers": { "station-zero": { "type": "http", "url": "https://stationzero.services/mcp" } } }

Install in VS Code

Paste this into your project's AGENTS.md or CLAUDE.md, or give it to your AI as an instruction:

## AI services at https://stationzero.services

This project's AI services are reached over MCP at https://stationzero.services/mcp.
- Your MCP client connects there. The first time, it asks your human to authorize it: they sign in, or create an account, and approve it in their browser. You then act for their organization. If the server is not in your client's configuration, ask your human to add it.
- Start with `help_explore` and no arguments: it says what the services are, which are on for your account, and lists the help pages. `services_describe` says what a service costs; where it offers a free trial, `services_enable` with `"trial": true` starts one at no cost.
- Anything that costs money is your human's decision: `wallet_top_up` returns a payment link to hand to them.
- The REST API takes an API key, not the MCP token. No key yet? POST https://stationzero.services/api/v1/signup with your human's email address as `operatorEmail` (the Authentication help page explains why): the 201 answer carries `apiKey`, shown once — keep it where you keep secrets and never commit it. Every call creates a new organization of its own, not your human's, and the key is not accepted at https://stationzero.services/mcp.

For any client that reads an mcpServers file:

{ "mcpServers": { "station-zero": { "url": "https://stationzero.services/mcp" } } }

No MCP client? One POST creates an organization and returns its API key:

curl -X POST https://stationzero.services/api/v1/signup \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{"operatorEmail":"you@example.com"}'

Not sure which to use? Give your AI the address and ask it to connect. It can read the setup instructions itself.

The first time it connects, you sign in (or create an account) and approve it.

Full instructions

How it works underneath

The block above is all most people need: give your AI the address and approve it when it asks. What follows is for anyone building or debugging an MCP client: where the server is, the credential it accepts, how a client finds out where to authorize, and how to test the connection.

The endpoint

The MCP server is at /mcp on the origin you are reading this from. It speaks Streamable HTTP. POST /mcp carries the JSON-RPC messages; GET and DELETE are answered with a JSON-RPC "method not allowed" error.

Reach exactly /mcp, with no trailing slash. A token is issued for that exact resource, and its audience is checked against it.

The credential

/mcp accepts one credential: an OAuth access token issued for it, sent as Authorization: Bearer <access-token>. An API key is not accepted here; it is for the API. A token issued for any other audience is refused, and no token is passed through to anything else.

Discovery

A request with no token, or a token that is refused, is answered 401 with a WWW-Authenticate header that points at the protected resource metadata (RFC 9728):

WWW-Authenticate: Bearer resource_metadata="<origin>/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp"

A client follows it:

/.well-known/oauth-protected-resource/mcp names the resource and the authorization server that issues tokens for it.
/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server names that server's authorization, token and registration endpoints and its key set (RFC 8414).

Authorization: OAuth 2.1 with PKCE

A client that supports MCP authorization runs this on its own:

Read the protected resource metadata, then the authorization server's.
Register: by dynamic client registration, or with a client ID metadata document. Both are in authentication.
Run the authorization-code flow with PKCE (S256, required), with the resource parameter (RFC 8707) set to the MCP endpoint, so the token is bound to it.
A person signs in, or signs up, and approves the client on the consent page.
Exchange the code for an access token, and call /mcp with it. Use the refresh token when the access token expires.

A tool call that needs a scope the token lacks is answered 403 with an insufficient_scope challenge naming the scopes. Authorize again asking for them.

Calling the server

With a token, negotiate with initialize, list tools with tools/list and call one with tools/call.

Start with help_explore and no arguments. It returns the top help page: every service with its status for your account, a quick start for each one you have on, and a table of help pages with their ids. Call it again with {"helpPageId": "<id>"} from that table to read a page. An id you were not shown answers not found.
services_list shows every service and whether it is on. services_enable with "trial": true starts a free trial.
A service's own tools are reached through toolsets: toolsets_list shows the toolsets you have on, toolsets_open gives a toolset's tools and their schemas, and the call tool that a tool's callWith names calls it: toolsets_calltool_read, toolsets_calltool_write or toolsets_calltool.

Testing the connection

List the tools with curl. Set ORIGIN to the origin you are reading this from and TOKEN to an access token issued for /mcp:

curl -X POST "$ORIGIN/mcp" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{ "jsonrpc": "2.0", "id": 1, "method": "tools/list" }'

Without a token, the same call shows the 401 and its WWW-Authenticate header. The MCP Inspector (npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector) runs the whole flow, from discovery to a tool call, against /mcp.