Installation - Atatus Docs

Connect your AI assistant to the Atatus MCP server in about five minutes. Because this is a hosted service, there is nothing to download or install. You simply connect your assistant to our hosted endpoint using an Atatus Application Key (the key type used for querying data, not a License Key). The hosted endpoint is:

https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp

Are you using a non-US region? Make sure to use your region-specific MCP endpoint. If you are unsure which endpoint to use, please contact our support team at support@atatus.com.

1. Prerequisites

Before starting, make sure you have:

Requirement	Description
An MCP-compatible AI client	Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, or any other client that supports MCP.
An Atatus account	Sign up at atatus.com.
An Atatus Application Key	You will generate this in the next step. See Where to find API key? for reference.

2. Generate your Application Key

The MCP server reads data from your account, so it requires an Application Key (used for querying data) rather than a License Key (used by agents to send data).

Log in to your Atatus dashboard as an Admin or Owner.
Go to Settings » Account Settings » API Keys.
Click New API Key and name it (for example, mcp-server-key). The key type defaults to Application Key, which is exactly what you need.
Set the permissions:
- Read (Recommended): Lets your assistant query all data without making changes.
- Read & Write: Lets your assistant query data and perform write actions like resolving or ignoring errors.
Click Create and copy your key to a safe place. You will not be able to view it again.

3. Connect your AI client

Every client connects to our hosted endpoint using your Application Key. The endpoint URL is https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp and the header name is X-API-KEY. Find your client below for configuration details:

This server uses the standard Streamable HTTP transport. Different clients may name this option differently (e.g., type: "http" or a URL field), but all point to the same endpoint.

Client	Configuration File / Method
Claude Code	`claude mcp add` (CLI)
Cursor	`~/.cursor/mcp.json`
VS Code	`.vscode/mcp.json`
Antigravity	`~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json`
Antigravity CLI	`~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json`
Codex CLI	`~/.codex/config.toml`
Claude Desktop	`claude_desktop_config.json` + `mcp-remote` (macOS/Windows)

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http atatus-mcp https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp \
  --header "X-API-KEY: ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"

Cursor

Add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json (one project):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atatus-mcp": {
      "url": "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-KEY": "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (workspace) or your user mcp.json. VS Code uses servers (not mcpServers) and requires "type": "http":

{
  "servers": {
    "atatus-mcp": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-KEY": "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Antigravity

Antigravity stores servers in ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json. You can open it from the agent panel by navigating to MCP Servers » Manage MCP Servers » View raw config. Similar to the other IDEs, it uses serverUrl for remote servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atatus-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-KEY": "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Antigravity CLI

Add to ~/.gemini/config/mcp_config.json (global) or .agents/mcp_config.json (per project). Antigravity CLI uses serverUrl for remote servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atatus-mcp": {
      "serverUrl": "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-KEY": "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Codex CLI

Add to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.atatus-mcp]
url = "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp"
http_headers = { "X-API-KEY" = "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" }

Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop runs on macOS and Windows only, and there is no Linux build. On Linux, connect with Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Antigravity CLI, or Codex CLI instead.

The Atatus server is still fully hosted, so there is nothing to install or run as a server. But Claude Desktop is the one client that cannot send a custom X-API-KEY header: its Settings » Connectors screen only supports URL / OAuth connectors, with no field for an API-key header. The fix is a small local relay called mcp-remote: it sits between Claude Desktop and the hosted endpoint and adds your header to each request. It is not a copy of the server, just a header-forwarding shim, launched on demand by npx, so it requires Node.js installed.

Most clients      [ client ] ───── X-API-KEY ─────►  mcp.atatus.com/mcp   ◄── HOSTED (Atatus runs it)
                  (sends the header itself; no install)

Claude Desktop    [ Claude Desktop ] ──► [ mcp-remote ] ── X-API-KEY ──►  mcp.atatus.com/mcp   ◄── same HOSTED server
                                          ▲ local relay on your machine (npx), adds the header, is NOT the server

Prefer a zero-install setup? Every other client on this page (Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, Antigravity, Antigravity CLI, Codex CLI) sends the X-API-KEY header natively and connects straight to the hosted URL with no bridge.

1. Open the config file (create it if it doesn’t exist). In Claude Desktop you can also reach it via Settings » Developer » Edit Config:

OS	Config file path
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`

2. Add the atatus-mcp server (merge into an existing mcpServers block if you already have one):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "atatus-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "X-API-KEY:${ATATUS_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ATATUS_API_KEY": "ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Keep the header as X-API-KEY:${ATATUS_API_KEY} with no space after the colon, and put the real key in env. mcp-remote can split a --header value that contains a space, so this form is the reliable one.

3. Save, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop (Cmd/Ctrl + Q on macOS, or right-click the Claude icon in the system tray and select Quit, or kill it via Task Manager on Windows; simply closing the window is not enough). On first launch npx downloads mcp-remote, so give it a few seconds. When it connects, atatus-mcp and its tools show up under the tools/plug icon in the chat box.

Are you using a different MCP client? Simply point it to https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp over HTTP and pass your API key in the X-API-KEY header. That is all any MCP-compliant client requires to connect.

4. Verify the connection

In your AI client: Type /mcp if you are using Claude Code, or check the MCP status indicator inside Claude Desktop or Cursor. You should see atatus-mcp active, with 67 tools ready to use. From a terminal: The reliable check is to call a tool, which actually exercises your API key. Listing tools is not a real test: the server returns the full tool list even without a valid key, so only a real tool call confirms authentication. Run list_projects:

curl -s -X POST https://mcp.atatus.com/mcp \
  -H "X-API-KEY: ak_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/call","params":{"name":"list_projects","arguments":{}}}' | head -c 800

Working key → you get back your project list (project names and IDs).
Wrong or wrong-region key → you get Authentication Error: Your API key is invalid or does not have permission for this operation.

The reply is wrapped in event: / data: lines. That is normal: Streamable HTTP answers as a Server-Sent Events stream.

The Accept: application/json, text/event-stream header is required for manual curl tests because the server uses Streamable HTTP. Standard MCP clients send this automatically.

5. Try your first question

Ask your AI assistant plain-English questions like:

“What projects do we have in Atatus?” “Are there any unhealthy Kubernetes workloads right now?” “Top 10 hosts by CPU in the last hour.” “Why is <some-pod-name> failing?” “Show me the slowest transactions in <project-name> this week.”

The assistant will automatically select the right tools, chain operations, and present you with the answer. For details on all available tools and chaining behavior, see the Tool Reference.

Security

Secure Transmission: Your API key is sent securely over HTTPS.
Strict Scope: Keys only access data for their specific Atatus account. Read keys cannot change any settings.
Instant Revocation: You can delete or regenerate your key at any time in your dashboard to immediately block access.

Having trouble?

If you encounter any issues during setup, check out our Troubleshooting guide for quick fixes to common problems.

​1. Prerequisites

​2. Generate your Application Key

​3. Connect your AI client

​Claude Code

​Cursor

​VS Code

​Antigravity

​Antigravity CLI

​Codex CLI

​Claude Desktop

​4. Verify the connection

​5. Try your first question

​Security

​Having trouble?

1. Prerequisites

2. Generate your Application Key

3. Connect your AI client

Claude Code

Cursor

VS Code

Antigravity

Antigravity CLI

Codex CLI

Claude Desktop

4. Verify the connection

5. Try your first question

Security

Having trouble?