---
title: Connect an MCP server
type: how-to
section: ai-studio
summary: Use the plug button next to the message box to add a remote MCP server so the model can reach its tools and data during the thread.
applies_to:
  clients: [web]
sources:
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/studio/components/McpManager.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/studio/components/McpServersModal.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/studio/components/AddMcpServerModal.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/studio/components/ServerLibraryModal.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/[lng]/studio/components/MCPApprovalDialog.tsx
  - evolve-front-end/app/i18n/locales/en/powerflow.json
verified:
  at: 2026-09-04
  env: code
  by: content-lane-ai-studio
ttl_days: 45
related: [ai-studio/start-a-conversation, ai-studio/choose-a-model]
---

Select the plug button next to the message box, choose **Add MCP server**, give it a **Name** and a **Remote server URL**, then select **Add**. The model can use that server for the rest of the thread.

The plug button reads **Add MCP server** while no server is active and **Manage MCP servers** once one is, with the number of active servers beside it. It appears only on models that support these servers.

## Add a server

1. Select the plug button next to the message box.
2. Select **Add MCP server**.
3. **Name** — letters, digits, hyphens and underscores, starting with a letter.
4. **Remote server URL** — the full remote endpoint, for example an address ending in `/mcp`.
5. **Allowed tool names (optional)** — a comma-separated list. A server can expose many tools; listing the ones you want keeps the thread to those. Leave it blank to accept the server's own default.
6. Select **Add**.

The window states the scope plainly: **Once added, this MCP server will be used for all subsequent assistant responses in this thread only, with no additional permission prompts.**

That covers adding the server: you are not asked again to make it available to the thread. Individual tools can still ask before they run, if the server marks them that way.

## Reuse a server in other threads

- **Server library** holds servers you have added before. Open it from the plug button and select **Add** on a row to make it active in this thread, or **Remove** to take it out.
- Turn on **Make listed MCP servers global for new threads** so the active servers carry into threads you start later. Threads that already exist keep what they had. You need at least one active server before the switch will turn on.

## Approving a tool

Where a server asks for confirmation, a message names the server and asks whether to allow it. Choose **Allow** or **Deny**. Denying leaves the model to answer without that server.

## Remove a server

Open the plug button, select the delete control on the server's row, then **Done**. Turning off the global switch also clears the active list.

## If it did not work

- The plug button is missing: the model you are on does not support these servers. See [Choose a model](/help/ai-studio/choose-a-model).
- **Name must start with a letter** or **Name can only contain letters, digits, hyphens (-), and underscores (_)**: rename the server.
- **Invalid URL format**: paste the whole address, including the scheme.
- The model does not use the server's tools: check the server appears under **MCP servers list**, and that any list in **Allowed tool names (optional)** includes the tool you expect.