Connect your agent

Hydrant doesn’t run agents or supply a model. You bring the client; Hydrant gives it one workspace, a name in the history and rules it can’t talk its way around. This page gets a client connected. It takes about two minutes, most of it your browser.

Before you start

You’re a member of the workspace the agent should work in. Any role will do.
An MCP client that speaks Streamable HTTP and OAuth. Claude Code, Claude (claude.ai or Desktop) and Codex are the ones we test. Codex needs 0.154.0 or newer; 0.146.0 doesn’t finish the sign-in on the way back.
The address: https://hydrant.dev/api/mcp. The same steps, with the address filled in and a copy button, live in the app under Settings › Agents › Connect your agent.
A free slot. Keys and browser connections share the workspace Owner’s plan limit: 2 on Free, 20 on Solo Pro.

Steps

Claude Code

Add Hydrant. The default scope is this project, for you only. Add --scope user for every project you open, or --scope project to write a shared .mcp.json your teammates will see.
Terminal window
```
claude mcp add --transport http hydrant https://hydrant.dev/api/mcp
```
Sign in. Inside Claude Code run /mcp and choose Authenticate, or from a shell:
Terminal window
```
claude mcp login hydrant
```
Over SSH, add --no-browser and open the printed link yourself.
Approve one workspace in the browser tab that opens. Your browser then returns to your own computer. That’s the command line collecting its ticket, not a phishing attempt.

Claude (claude.ai or Desktop)

Open Customize › Connectors › Add custom connector and paste https://hydrant.dev/api/mcp as the URL.
Choose Connect. A Hydrant tab opens: sign in and approve one workspace. Your browser goes back to claude.ai on its own.
Turn the connector on in a chat and ask for something in the workspace.

Custom connectors depend on your Claude plan. If the option isn’t there, that’s the plan, not you.

Codex

Add Hydrant. The desktop app and IDE extension read the same configuration.
Terminal window
```
codex mcp add hydrant --url https://hydrant.dev/api/mcp
```
Sign in. Codex opens the browser for you:
Terminal window
```
codex mcp login hydrant
```
Approve one workspace in the browser tab that opens.

Another MCP client

Give it https://hydrant.dev/api/mcp. It needs Streamable HTTP and OAuth, with either client ID metadata documents or dynamic registration.
When it opens a browser, sign in and approve one workspace.
Have it read the workspace.

If the client can’t do OAuth at all, use an agent key instead.

What you should see

Claude Code: claude mcp list says Connected. “Needs authentication” means step 2 again.
Codex: codex mcp list, or /mcp inside Codex, shows hydrant as authenticated.
Everywhere: the connection appears under Settings › Agents › Connections. It starts as “authorized, waiting for its first contact” and flips to “verified” after the agent’s first request. A green dot in your client is your client’s opinion. Verified is the proof.

Optional: the Hydrant skill

npx skills add Background-Craft/hydrant-skills teaches Claude Code and Codex how work moves here. Connecting doesn’t need it. Working well does. It needs Node.js; npx comes with it.

If it goes sideways

The browser said “Nothing to approve.” The request went stale. Start again from your client.
“That account isn’t a member here.” You signed in with a GitHub account that isn’t in the workspace. Ask an Admin for an invitation, then try again. Who can do what.
It connected to the wrong workspace. One connection, one workspace. Revoke it under Connections and connect again, picking the right one this time.
To start over: claude mcp remove hydrant or codex mcp remove hydrant, then step 1 again. Other servers in your configuration are not touched.
Everything else: Troubleshooting.