Preset MCP Server Authentication

Overview

The Preset MCP (Model Context Protocol) server allows AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT to interact with your Preset workspace — listing dashboards, querying datasets, executing SQL, and more.

Prerequisites

• A Preset account with access to a workspace

• Your Preset workspace MCP URL:

  https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp

Method 1: OAuth (Recommended)

Claude Web (claude.ai)

Steps

1. Open claude.ai in your browser
2. Click on your profile icon or go to Settings
3. Navigate to Connectors
4. Click Add custom connector
5. Fill in the details:
   • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., My Preset Workspace)
   • URL: Your workspace MCP URL (e.g., https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp)
6. Click Add
7. You'll be redirected to authenticate with Preset via OAuth

Reference: Getting Started with Custom Connectors Using Remote MCP

Claude Desktop

Option 1: Using Connectors (Recommended)

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Click on your profile icon or go to Settings
3. Navigate to Connectors
4. Click Add custom connector
5. Fill in the details:
   • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., My Preset Workspace)
   • URL: Your workspace MCP URL
6. Click Add
7. Authenticate with Preset when prompted

Option 2: Manual JSON Configuration

If connectors aren't available on your plan, you can configure via JSON:

1. Open Claude Desktop
2. Click the Settings icon
3. Select the Developer tab
4. Click Edit Config to open claude_desktop_config.json

• Config file locations by OS
  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\\Claude\\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following to your config. This uses mcp-remote to proxy the connection to the remote MCP server with OAuth:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "preset-workspace": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote@latest",
        "https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

1. Save the file
2. Completely quit and restart Claude Desktop
3. Look for the hammer/tools icon in the bottom-right corner to confirm the server is connected
4. A browser window will open for OAuth authentication on first connection

Reference: Getting Started with Local MCP Servers on Claude Desktop

Claude Code (Terminal)

Claude Code is Anthropic's terminal-based coding assistant. It supports OAuth for MCP servers via the CLI.

Steps

Step 1: Add the MCP server (one time)

claude mcp add --transport http preset-mcp https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp

Step 2: Launch Claude Code

claude

Step 3: Trigger the OAuth flow

Once inside the Claude Code session, run:

/mcp

This will open a browser window where you can authenticate with Preset. After logging in, the connection will be established and Preset tools will be available in your session.

ChatGPT Web

Step 1: Enable Developer Mode (if needed)

1. Click on your profile icon at the top left of the ChatGPT page
2. Select Settings
3. Go to Apps and Connectors
4. Scroll down and select Advanced Settings
5. Enable Developer Mode

Step 2: Add the MCP Server

1. Press the + button in the chat composer
2. Click Add sources
3. Go to App -> Connect more
4. Click Create app
5. Fill in the details:
   • Name: A descriptive name (e.g., My Preset Workspace)
   • MCP server URL: Your workspace MCP URL
6. Press I understand and continue
7. Authenticate with Preset when prompted via OAuth

Reference: Connect from ChatGPT

Gemini CLI (Terminal)

Gemini CLI is Google's open-source terminal-based AI agent. It supports remote MCP servers with automatic OAuth discovery — no token management required.

Prerequisites

• Gemini CLI installed

Steps

Step 1: Add the MCP server configuration

Add your Preset workspace to ~/.gemini/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "preset": {
      "url": "https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Replace <workspace-slug> and <region> with the values from your Preset workspace URL.

Step 2: Launch Gemini CLI and authenticate

Start Gemini CLI:

gemini

Then authenticate with the Preset MCP server:

/mcp auth preset

A browser window will open for OAuth authentication. Log in with your Preset credentials. You should see:

ℹ ✅ Successfully authenticated with MCP server 'preset'!

ℹ Restarting MCP server 'preset'...

ℹ Successfully authenticated and reloaded tools for 'preset'

Step 3: Verify the connection

Try a command like "List my dashboards" or "What datasets are available?"

Notes:

• The OAuth token is cached in ~/.gemini/mcp-oauth-tokens.json for subsequent sessions
• If your token expires or you encounter a stale session, delete the cached token and re-authenticate:

rm ~/.gemini/mcp-oauth-tokens.json
gemini

Multiple Workspaces

To connect to multiple Preset workspaces, add entries with unique names:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "preset-production": {
      "url": "https://<workspace-1-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp"
    },
    "preset-staging": {
      "url": "https://<workspace-2-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Reference: Gemini CLI MCP Server Documentation

Method 2: JWT Authentication via API Token

Step 1: Generate API Credentials in Preset Manager

1. Log in to your Preset workspace
2. Navigate to Settings -> API Keys (or your team's API key management page)
3. Click Create API Key (or equivalent)
4. You will receive two values:

Step 2: Exchange Credentials for a JWT

Use the Preset Auth API to exchange your API token name and secret for a JWT access token.

Example curl request:

curl --location 'https://api.app.preset.io/v1/auth/' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --header 'Accept: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "name": "YOUR_API_TOKEN_NAME",
    "secret": "YOUR_API_TOKEN_SECRET"
  }'

Example response:

{
  "payload": {
    "access_token": "eyJhbGciOiJSUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9..."
  }
}

Extract the access_token value from the response — this is your JWT.

Reference: Preset API Docs - Authentication

Step 3: Use the JWT with MCP

Once you have a JWT, include it in the Authorization header when making requests to the MCP server:

curl -X POST 'https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}'

• Claude Desktop JSON config with JWT

  For Claude Desktop with JSON config, you can use mcp-remote with the bearer token:

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "preset-workspace": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "mcp-remote@latest",
          "https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp",
          "--header",
          "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_JWT_TOKEN"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
  

Method 3: Bearer Token (Direct)

Option A: Using a Browser Session Cookie

If you are logged into your Preset workspace in a browser:

1. Open your browser's Developer Tools (F12 or right-click -> Inspect)
2. Go to the Application (Chrome) or Storage (Firefox) tab
3. Under Cookies, find the cookie for your Preset workspace domain
4. Look for the session cookie (commonly named session, preset_session, or similar — the exact name may vary by environment)
5. Copy the cookie value — this is a valid JWT

You can then use this value as a Bearer token in the Authorization header:

curl -X POST 'https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer <paste-cookie-value-here>' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{"jsonrpc": "2.0", "method": "tools/list", "id": 1}'

• Claude Desktop JSON config with Bearer Token

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "preset-workspace": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": [
          "-y",
          "mcp-remote@latest",
          "https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp",
          "--header",
          "Authorization: Bearer <paste-cookie-value-here>"
        ]
      }
    }
  }
  

Option B: Using an Existing JWT

If you've already obtained a JWT through any method (API exchange, another tool, etc.), you can paste it directly into the Bearer token header as shown above.

API Endpoints Reference

Troubleshooting

Connection Issues

• Ensure you're using https:// in the URL (not http://)
• Verify your Preset workspace is accessible and not hibernated
• Check that you have the required subscription plan for your AI client

Authentication Issues

• OAuth: Clear your browser cookies and try re-authenticating
• JWT: Verify your API token and secret are correct. Tokens expire — re-generate if needed
• Cookie: Session cookies expire. Log back into your workspace and copy a fresh cookie
• Ensure you're authenticating against the correct workspace endpoint
• Ensure that the workspace you're accessing has MCP connections enabled.

Server Not Appearing in AI Client

• Claude Desktop: Completely quit and restart the application after config changes
• Claude Web / ChatGPT: Refresh the page and check your connectors list
• Verify the MCP URL format is correct: https://<workspace-slug>.<region>.app.preset.io/mcp

Common Errors

Security Notes

• Review permission scopes during OAuth authentication
• The MCP connection allows the AI assistant to access your Preset data based on your user permissions and role
• Store API credentials securely — never share your API Token Secret
• JWT tokens should be treated as sensitive credentials

Coming Soon: API Key Authentication