Skip to main content

​
Overview

The Chift Model Context Protocol (MCP) defines a set of tools you can use to build AI Agents that can interact with the different integrations offered by Chift and search in our documentation through one MCP server. It exposes the Chift Unified API to any LLM provider supporting the MCP protocol like Claude, Cursor or Windsurf. Chift MCP server can be found here.

​
Getting Started

You can use the Chift MCP server in two ways:
  1. Remote Server (Recommended) - Connect directly to our hosted MCP server
  2. Local Installation - Install and run the server locally
Choose the option that best fits your needs: The remote server is the easiest way to get started with Chift MCP. No local installation required!

​
Prerequisites

  • A Chift account with client credentials (client ID, client secret, account ID, and consumer ID)

​
Getting an Access Token

To use the remote server, you first need to obtain an access token by making a POST request to https://api.chift.eu/mcp-token: 
curl -X POST 'https://api.chift.eu/mcp-token' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -d '{
    "clientId": "your_client_id",
    "clientSecret": "your_client_secret",
    "accountId": "your_account_id",
    "consumerId": "your_consumer_id"
  }'
Response: 
{
  "access_token": "your_mcp_access_token",
  "token_type": "bearer",
  "expires_in": 1800,
  "expires_on": 1234567890
}

​
Required Parameters

​
clientId
string
required
Your Chift client ID
​
clientSecret
string
required
Your Chift client secret
​
accountId
string
required
Your Chift account ID (UUID format)
​
consumerId
string
required
Your consumer ID (UUID format)
​
envId
string
Optional environment ID (UUID format)
​
marketplaceId
string
Optional marketplace ID (UUID format)

​
IDE Configuration

  • Claude Desktop
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Claude Code
Configure Claude for Desktop to use the remote MCP server:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chift-remote": {
      "command": "/path/to/npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https.mcp.chift.eu/",
        "--transport",
        "http-only",
        "--header",
        "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer <your_mcp_access_token>"
      }
    }
  }
}
Replace <your_mcp_access_token> with the token received from the /mcp-token endpoint.

​
Setup Steps

  1. Get your MCP access token using the API call above
  2. Choose your preferred IDE from the tabs above
  3. Either use the one-click install link or manually add the configuration
  4. Replace <your_mcp_access_token> with your actual token
  5. Restart your IDE/application
  6. You should see the Chift tools available in the chat interface
The remote server setup is complete! You can now use Chift MCP tools in your chosen IDE without any local dependencies.

​
Local Installation

You can also run the MCP server locally in a stdio environment. Local installation is ideal if you want better AI support during integration of the Chift API. Running the MCP server locally allows you to:
  • Choice between limiting the MCP server to a specific consumer or allowing access to all
  • Search and reference the entire Chift Documentation directly from your IDE for improved AI context when
  • Customize your setup for specific workflows

​
Prerequisites

  • A Chift account with client credentials (client ID, client secret, account ID, and consumer ID)
  • Python 3.11 or higher
  • uv package manager
More information about local installation can be found here

​
Installation Steps

  1. Install the required dependencies (Python 3.11+ and uv)
  2. Install the Chift MCP server package
  3. Configure your environment variables
  4. Set up your client configuration

​
IDE Configuration

  • Claude Desktop
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Claude Code
This is an example configuration for Claude Desktop when using local installation:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "chift": {
      "command": "/path/to/uvx",
      "args": ["chift-mcp-server@latest"],
      "env": {
        "CHIFT_CLIENT_SECRET": "your_client_secret",
        "CHIFT_CLIENT_ID": "your_client_id",
        "CHIFT_ACCOUNT_ID": "your_account_id",
        "CHIFT_CONSUMER_ID": "your_consumer_id" // Optional
      }
    }
  }
}

​
Setup Steps

  1. Install Python 3.11+ and uv on your system
  2. Install the Chift MCP server: uvx chift-mcp-server@latest
  3. Set up your environment variables (see below)
  4. Choose your preferred IDE from the tabs above and add the configuration
  5. Replace the credential placeholders with your actual values
  6. Restart your IDE/application
  7. You should see the Chift tools available in the chat interface

​
Environment Variables for Local Installation

The following environment variables are required for local installation: 
CHIFT_CLIENT_SECRET=your_client_secret
CHIFT_CLIENT_ID=your_client_id
CHIFT_ACCOUNT_ID=your_account_id
CHIFT_CONSUMER_ID=your_consumer_id  # Optional
Local installation is complete! You now have full control over your MCP server instance and can use Chift MCP tools in your chosen IDE.

​
Other LLM Providers

The Chift MCP server works with any LLM provider that supports the MCP protocol, not just Claude Desktop. We have elaborated on several examples (PydanticAI, Copilot, …) here

​
Available Tools

The Chift MCP Server dynamically generates tools based on the Chift OpenAPI specification. These tools provide access to various Chift API endpoints and include operations for:
  • Retrieving financial data
  • Managing your financial connections
  • Creating new financial records (invoices, payments, etc.)
  • Updating existing records
  • And much more…
All our endpoints documented in our API reference can be accessed through the Chift MCP server.

​
Advanced Configuration

​
Function Configuration (Local Installation Only)

For local installations, you can customize which operations are available for each domain. By default, all operations are enabled for all domains: 
{
  "accounting": ["get", "create", "update", "add"],
  "commerce": ["get", "create", "update", "add"],
  "invoicing": ["get", "create", "update", "add"],
  "payment": ["get", "create", "update", "add"],
  "pms": ["get", "create", "update", "add"],
  "pos": ["get", "create", "update", "add"]
}
This can be customized using the CHIFT_FUNCTION_CONFIG environment variable. More details can be found here.
Function configuration is only available for local installations. The remote server provides access to all available operations.
⌘I