Connect your coding agent

Install the Baseten skill and MCP servers so your agent can manage your Baseten workspace and search these docs.

Install the Baseten skill and MCP servers so your coding agent can manage your Baseten workspace and search these docs. To connect Claude Code, Codex CLI, Pi, Droid, or OpenCode to Model APIs, see Coding agents.

Install the agent toolkit

To install the skill and MCP servers:

1. Create a dedicated key with management permissions in your API key settings. A dedicated key lets you revoke agent access without affecting inference or other tools.

2. Set it in your shell so the installer can read it:

   macOS / Linux

   export BASETEN_MCP_KEY=...
   

   To persist the key, add the line to your shell profile (~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc). On Windows, run setx BASETEN_MCP_KEY "...".

3. Run these commands in a shell that exports BASETEN_MCP_KEY. The -g flag makes the installation available to each detected agent, and -y skips confirmation prompts:

   macOS / Linux

   npx skills add basetenlabs/baseten-skills -g -y
   npx add-mcp https://api.baseten.co/mcp -g -y --header "Authorization: Bearer ${BASETEN_MCP_KEY}"
   npx add-mcp https://docs.baseten.co/mcp -n baseten_docs -g -y
   

4. Restart your coding agent so it loads the skill and MCP configuration.

Alternatively, ask your agent to install the toolkit. Paste this prompt:

Install the Baseten agent toolkit globally by following the instructions at https://github.com/basetenlabs/baseten-skills:

- Install the `baseten` skill.
- Add the backend MCP server at https://api.baseten.co/mcp with the header "Authorization: Bearer $BASETEN_MCP_KEY".
- Add the docs MCP server at https://docs.baseten.co/mcp.

Run the commands in a shell that exports BASETEN_MCP_KEY. Don't print the key. After installation, tell me how to verify the setup and whether I need to restart my agent.

Claude Code

To confirm that the servers are connected:

Run /mcp. You should see:

baseten         ✔ connected
baseten_docs    ✔ connected

If Claude Code prompts before reading skill files, add this to ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": ["Read(~/.claude/skills/**)"]
  }
}

Cursor or VS Code

To confirm that the servers are connected:

Open MCP settings and confirm both baseten and baseten_docs show as connected.

Verify the setup by asking your agent to list the models in your workspace. If your agent exposes skills as slash commands, you can also run /baseten.

The backend MCP server connects to the workspace associated with its API key. To work with multiple workspaces, install additional backend server instances under different names and use a different key for each one.

Configure your agent manually

Use these instructions if the installer does not detect your agent. Add both MCP servers to your agent’s configuration, then install the skill with npx skills add basetenlabs/baseten-skills. For a docs-only setup, add baseten_docs without an authorization header.

Cursor

To add the MCP servers by hand:

Add this to mcp.json:

mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "baseten": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.baseten.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${BASETEN_MCP_KEY}" }
    },
    "baseten_docs": { "type": "http", "url": "https://docs.baseten.co/mcp" }
  }
}

VS Code

To add the MCP servers by hand:

Add this to .vscode/mcp.json:

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "baseten": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.baseten.co/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${BASETEN_MCP_KEY}" }
    },
    "baseten_docs": { "type": "http", "url": "https://docs.baseten.co/mcp" }
  }
}

Claude Code

To add the MCP servers by hand:

1. Install the skill:
   npx skills add basetenlabs/baseten-skills
   
2. Add the backend MCP server:
   claude mcp add --transport http baseten https://api.baseten.co/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer ${BASETEN_MCP_KEY}"
   
3. Add the docs MCP server:
   claude mcp add --transport http baseten_docs https://docs.baseten.co/mcp
   

npx add-mcp and npx skills add also detect Codex, Antigravity, Goose, Windsurf, and other supported agents. For GUI clients such as Claude Desktop, add both server URLs in the connector settings. Any MCP-compatible agent can use the URLs above.

Next steps

Coding agents

Call Model APIs from Pi, Droid, or OpenCode, or install Baseten Switch for Claude Code, Codex CLI, or Pi.

Deploy your first model

Deploy a Hugging Face model with vLLM and the Baseten CLI.

Pull docs into an agent without MCP

Append .md to any docs URL to open the page as Markdown. You can also use llms.txt to index the documentation or llms-full.txt to retrieve its full text. The Copy page button in the upper-right corner of each page copies the Markdown or opens it as plain text:

If you cannot install the full baseten skill, install the lightweight docs skill instead:

npx skills add https://docs.baseten.co