Connecting Other AI Tools

The Framework MCP server and Knowledge Base MCP server both use the StreamableHTTP MCP transport with JWT bearer-token authentication. This page is a quick-reference for connecting AI coding tools other than Claude Code. For what each server does and its full tool/ prompt reference, see Claude Code Setup (Framework server) and Knowledge Base MCP Server Setup (KB server) — the walkthroughs there explain the servers themselves in more depth than this page repeats.

All three tools below were verified against each vendor’s own current MCP documentation while writing this page. If a config snippet stops working, check that vendor’s docs (linked in each section) — MCP client support changes quickly.

A note on authentication

Framework MCP server: implements a full OAuth 2.0 authorization flow (with Dynamic Client Registration). Any MCP client that supports OAuth-based remote server auth — including all three tools below — can complete a normal browser login the first time it connects, the same way Claude Code does.
Knowledge Base MCP server: only validates an issued bearer token; it does not expose OAuth discovery/authorization endpoints. Clients that rely on automatic OAuth login (rather than a manually supplied bearer token) won’t be able to auto-authenticate against it. Ask your administrator for a valid access token for the same tenant/audience the Knowledge Base MCP server is configured against, and supply it as a static bearer token / header using the options below.

OpenAI Codex

Codex CLI, the ChatGPT desktop app, and the Codex IDE extension share one MCP configuration. Codex supports Streamable HTTP servers with bearer-token and OAuth authentication (including CIMD/DCR). See OpenAI’s Model Context Protocol docs for the full reference.

Framework MCP server (OAuth)

codex mcp add engineering-framework --url <your-mcp-server-url>/mcp

Codex will print an OAuth callback URL and prompt you to log in the first time you use the server; run codex mcp login engineering-framework to (re)authenticate manually.

Knowledge Base MCP server (bearer token)

Add this to ~/.codex/config.toml (or a project-scoped .codex/config.toml):

[mcp_servers.knowledge-base]
url = "<your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "KB_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN"

Then set KB_MCP_BEARER_TOKEN in your shell environment to the access token from your administrator before starting Codex.

GitHub Copilot

GitHub Copilot’s remote MCP support depends on the surface you’re using. Copilot CLI and the Copilot Chat IDE extensions (VS Code, Visual Studio, JetBrains, Xcode, Eclipse) all support remote HTTP MCP servers with either a static bearer token or an OAuth flow — configuration format differs per surface. See Extending GitHub Copilot Chat with MCP servers and Adding MCP servers for GitHub Copilot CLI for the authoritative reference.

Copilot CLI

copilot mcp add --transport http engineering-framework <your-mcp-server-url>/mcp
copilot mcp add --transport http knowledge-base <your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KB_ACCESS_TOKEN"

The Framework server supports OAuth discovery, so copilot mcp add without a header should trigger a login prompt; the Knowledge Base server needs the static Authorization header shown above since it has no OAuth flow of its own. Equivalent ~/.copilot/mcp-config.json entries:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "engineering-framework": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>/mcp"
    },
    "knowledge-base": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "<your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KB_ACCESS_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Visual Studio / JetBrains / Xcode / Eclipse (Copilot Chat)

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (VS Code) or the equivalent mcp.json for your IDE — note this uses a top-level servers key, not mcpServers, and is a different file from Copilot CLI’s config:

{
  "servers": {
    "engineering-framework": {
      "url": "<your-mcp-server-url>/mcp"
    },
    "knowledge-base": {
      "url": "<your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp",
      "requestInit": {
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KB_ACCESS_TOKEN"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

For the Framework server, use the CodeLens Auth action above the server entry in mcp.json to complete the OAuth login.

Gemini CLI

Gemini CLI supports Streamable HTTP MCP servers (via httpUrl), including automatic OAuth discovery and static headers. See MCP servers with Gemini CLI for the full reference.

gemini mcp add --transport http engineering-framework <your-mcp-server-url>/mcp
gemini mcp add --transport http knowledge-base <your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KB_ACCESS_TOKEN"

Equivalent settings.json entries:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "engineering-framework": {
      "httpUrl": "<your-mcp-server-url>/mcp"
    },
    "knowledge-base": {
      "httpUrl": "<your-kb-mcp-server-url>/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_KB_ACCESS_TOKEN"
      }
    }
  }
}

The Framework server’s OAuth endpoints are auto-discovered — on first connection Gemini CLI opens a browser for login. Use /mcp auth engineering-framework inside a session to re-authenticate if needed.

Tools not covered here

We looked for other MCP clients worth documenting alongside these three and didn’t find another one common enough on engineering teams to warrant its own section as of this writing. If you’re using a client not listed here, check whether it supports the Streamable HTTP MCP transport in its own docs — if so, the URL and bearer-token pattern above should still apply.

Overview

Getting Started

Core Concepts

Framework MCP Server

Permissions & Roles

Documentation (in progress)

Knowledge Base

Knowledge Base MCP Server

A note on authentication

OpenAI Codex

Framework MCP server (OAuth)

Knowledge Base MCP server (bearer token)

GitHub Copilot

Copilot CLI

VS Code / Visual Studio / JetBrains / Xcode / Eclipse (Copilot Chat)

Gemini CLI

Tools not covered here

​A note on authentication

​OpenAI Codex

​Framework MCP server (OAuth)

​Knowledge Base MCP server (bearer token)

​GitHub Copilot

​Copilot CLI

​VS Code / Visual Studio / JetBrains / Xcode / Eclipse (Copilot Chat)

​Gemini CLI

​Tools not covered here

A note on authentication

OpenAI Codex

Framework MCP server (OAuth)

Knowledge Base MCP server (bearer token)

GitHub Copilot

Copilot CLI

VS Code / Visual Studio / JetBrains / Xcode / Eclipse (Copilot Chat)

Gemini CLI

Tools not covered here