MCP Quickstart: How to Connect Your AI Agent

Connect an AI agent to 1,000+ integrations through one MCP endpoint. This guide covers getting connected, managing access keys, and everything your agent can do.

What is MCP

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is what lets an AI agent execute actions in external platforms, not just answer questions or generate reports. Most teams reach for one MCP server per app, and that quickly turns into a maintenance and performance problem: more servers to manage, more auth flows, a bigger context for the agent to carry around.

Albato MCP is a unified, white-label MCP server that lets your AI agents execute actions across 1,000+ apps through a single connection, instead of wiring up a separate MCP for every tool. Your agent calls Albato once, and Albato routes each request to the right app, handles authentication, runs the action, and returns the result.

This is what makes Albato MCP different from connecting native MCP servers one by one: instead of dozens of separate servers, each with its own auth, errors, and dashboard, you get one connection, one auth flow, and one place to watch.

Read more about how it works in How Albato MCP Works, or see the Albato MCP overview.

What you need

• Your Albato API token: an end-user session token, obtained via the Albato Embedded API using your master token
• The MCP Server URL and Registration Secret: provided by your Albato manager

Step 1: Get your virtual key

Run the following request, replacing the placeholders with the values from your Albato manager and your own Albato API token:

curl -s -X POST <MCP_SERVER_URL>/auth/register \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_REGISTRATION_SECRET" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"albatoToken": "YOUR_ALBATO_TOKEN", "label": "my-agent"}'

You will receive your virtual key:

{
"virtualKey": "mcp_vk_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"contractId": "client-id",
"createdAt": "2026-07-24T10:05:00.000Z"
}

Save your virtualKey. This is your personal access token for the MCP server.

Step 2: Connect your AI agent

Use the following settings in your MCP client (Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible agent):

Setting	Value
Transport	Streamable HTTP
URL	<MCP_SERVER_URL>/mcp
Auth header	Authorization: Bearer mcp_vk_...

Claude Desktop: add to your claude_desktop_config.json.

{
"mcpServers": {
"albato": {
"type": "http",
"url": "<MCP_SERVER_URL>/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY"
}
}
}
}

Cursor: add to your MCP settings

{
"albato": {
"url": "<MCP_SERVER_URL>/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY"
}
}
}

Step 3: Verify the connection

Run a quick health check:

curl -s <MCP_SERVER_URL>/health

Expected response:

{"result":{"ok":true,...}}

Then confirm the server sees your token.

curl -s -X POST <MCP_SERVER_URL>/mcp \
-H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_VIRTUAL_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

You should get a list of available tools. You are ready to go.

What your agent can do

Once connected, your agent has access to a set of tools for finding apps, running actions, and managing connections across 1,000+ integrations via Albato. See the full Tools Reference for the complete list, their parameters, and usage examples.

Rotating or revoking your key

You can register additional virtual keys, list your keys, and revoke a compromised one yourself using your Registration Secret. See the Virtual Keys guide. You only need to go back to your Albato manager if you lose your Registration Secret or need one issued for a new contract.

Need help? Contact your Albato manager or reach out to the Albato support team.

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