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

Prompt

To have your agent install the toolkit:

Paste this prompt into your coding agent:

Install the Baseten agent toolkit globally for every coding agent on this machine:

1. Install the `baseten` skill: `npx skills add basetenlabs/baseten-skills -g -y`
2. Add the backend MCP server: `npx add-mcp https://api.baseten.co/mcp -g -y`
   Don't add an Authorization header or API key. The server uses OAuth, and I'll sign in to Baseten in my browser when it first connects.
3. Add the docs MCP server: `npx add-mcp https://docs.baseten.co/mcp -n baseten_docs -g -y`

If `add-mcp` stops because Claude Desktop doesn't support remote servers, rerun both `add-mcp` commands with an `-a` flag for each coding agent I use, such as `-a claude-code -a cursor`.

Then tell me how to sign in to the backend server, how to verify the setup, and whether I need to restart my agent.

Commands

To install the skill and MCP servers:

Run these commands. The -g flag makes the installation available to each detected agent, and -y skips confirmation prompts:

npx skills add basetenlabs/baseten-skills -g -y
npx add-mcp https://api.baseten.co/mcp -g -y
npx add-mcp https://docs.baseten.co/mcp -n baseten_docs -g -y

If Claude Desktop is installed, add-mcp stops without configuring any agent, because Claude Desktop accepts remote servers only as connectors. Name the agents you use with -a instead:

npx add-mcp https://api.baseten.co/mcp -g -y -a claude-code -a cursor
npx add-mcp https://docs.baseten.co/mcp -n baseten_docs -g -y -a claude-code -a cursor

Run npx add-mcp list-agents for the other agent names.

Restart your coding agent so it loads the skill and MCP configuration. Then start the sign-in from your agent. It opens a browser window where you sign in to Baseten and approve access. After that, the agent refreshes its own access tokens.

Install the Baseten CLI

The skill deploys and operates models through the Baseten CLI, which is built for agents: it never prompts when stdin isn’t a terminal, --wait blocks until a deployment is active and exits non-zero on failure, and every command supports --output json and --jq.

brew tap basetenlabs/baseten
brew trust --formula basetenlabs/baseten/baseten
brew install baseten

On Windows, or to pin a version, see the Baseten CLI install reference.

Claude Code

To sign in and confirm that the servers are connected:

Run /mcp, select baseten, and choose Authenticate to sign in. Then run /mcp again. 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 sign in and confirm that the servers are connected:

Open MCP settings, sign in when baseten prompts you, 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 acts as you. It works in your account’s workspace and has your account’s permissions.

Configure your agent manually

Use these instructions if the installer doesn’t 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 only baseten_docs.

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" },
    "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" },
    "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
   
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 as custom connectors. Any MCP-compatible agent can use these URLs. You sign in to Baseten the first time each agent connects to the backend server.

Connect with an API key

Agents that run without a browser, such as agents in CI, can’t complete the sign-in. Connect them with an API key that has management permissions instead. Create a dedicated key in your API key settings so you can revoke the agent’s access without affecting inference or other tools.

To add the backend MCP server with an API key:

Store the key in the BASETEN_MCP_KEY environment variable, for example from your CI secret store. Then run the following command, which reads the key from the variable so it stays out of your shell history:

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

The server connects to the workspace that owns the key.

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.

Sandboxes

Give your application’s agents isolated environments to build and run code.

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