# MCP Actions

> Give your AI Agent tools from an external MCP server. Connect one from the catalog or by URL, and choose exactly which tools it may use.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets an AI use another service's tools directly. Instead of you describing an endpoint and its parameters by hand, an MCP server publishes its own tools, and your AI Agent discovers and uses them.

Connecting one takes a single click for most services. Go to **Actions & MCPs**, click **+ Add Action**, and choose **MCP**.

## Connect from the catalog

The MCP screen opens on a searchable catalog of well-known services, grouped by category (**Popular**, **Customer support**, **CRM & sales**, **Scheduling**, **E-commerce**, **Payments & billing**, **Marketing & email**, **Communication**, **Productivity**, **Data & analytics**, **Search & web**, **Travel & booking**, **Design**, **Developer & infra**).

1. Find the service you want, by browsing or with the search box.
2. Click its tile. Quickchat checks the server and discovers the tools it offers.
3. If the service requires you to sign in, an **Authorization required** panel appears. Click **Connect with \<service\>**, approve access in the popup that opens, and the panel switches to connected.
4. The action is created, enabled, and its tools are listed. Your AI Agent can use them from the next message on.

:::note
If you close the popup without approving, no connection is kept and the action is discarded.
:::

:::tip
Your browser must allow popups for the Quickchat dashboard, otherwise the authorization window cannot open. If it is blocked you will see a message asking you to allow popups and try again.
:::

## Connect a server that is not in the catalog

Click **Enter a URL manually** below the catalog, then:

1. Paste the **MCP server URL** (must start with `https://`).
2. If the server authenticates with a static token rather than a sign-in flow, open **Connection headers (optional)** and add the header it expects, for example `Authorization: Bearer <your-token>`.
3. Click **Connect**.

Use **Browse the catalog** to go back to the tile view. If a service you need is missing, **Missing an integration? Suggest one** opens a pre-filled email to our team.

## Choose which tools the AI can use

Once connected, the action lists every tool the server exposes, each with its own toggle. Turn off anything you do not want the AI to call — a booking server's read-only lookups can stay on while its cancellation tool stays off.

**Default tool activation** decides what happens when the server adds a *new* tool later: on, and new tools are available immediately; off, and you enable each one deliberately.

:::tip
Give the action a clear **MCP action name** and **MCP action description**. The description tells the AI when to reach for this server at all, so a specific one ("use for all Linear project queries") works better than a generic one.
:::

## What visitors see

While a tool runs, the chat widget shows a short status line describing what the AI is doing, derived from the tool's name — a tool called `search_flights` shows "Searching flights…". This gives the visitor something meaningful during the pause instead of a bare typing indicator. It is generated automatically; there is nothing to configure.

## Reconnect and disconnect

- **Reconnect** — runs the authorization again. Use it if the connection expired, if you want to authorize a different account, or if the server's tool list changed and you want to pick the new tools up.
- **Disconnect** — revokes the stored authorization and takes the action offline. The action itself stays in your list, so you can reconnect later without setting it up again.

Changing the **MCP server URL** on a connected action clears its authorization and switches the action off, because credentials issued by one server are never reused against another. Authorize again to bring it back online.

## Troubleshooting

| What you see | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| **Authorization failed** | The sign-in did not complete. Try **Reconnect**; if the popup was closed early, nothing was saved. |
| **Connected, but loading tools failed** | Authorization succeeded but the tool list did not load. Click **Reconnect**. |
| **No tools were found on this server. Try reconnecting.** | The server authorized but published no tools. Confirm the account you approved has access to the data you expect. |
| **Enter a valid URL, starting with https://** | The URL could not be read. Use the server's full `https://` address. Quickchat always connects over `https` so credentials are never sent unencrypted. |
| The action switched itself off | Its authorization expired or was revoked at the provider. Open the action and click **Reconnect**. |

:::note
MCP actions count toward your plan's Custom Actions quota, the same as API Actions.
:::