MCP server

Marmot has a built-in Model Context Protocol server at https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp. Point an AI assistant at it and the assistant can search your catalog, trace lineage and look up owners and glossary terms, with the same permissions as the identity it signs in with.

Before you start

• You have a Marmot API key. Create one under Account → API keys, or use a service account's key for an agent that runs on its own.
• You know your Marmot server's address. On Marmot Cloud it's https://<instance>.marmotdata.cloud.

Connect a client

Add Marmot to your client's MCP configuration:

Claude Code

Add this to ~/.claude.json for every project, or to .mcp.json in a project's root for that project only:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "marmot": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "<api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

If you've signed in with marmot login, you can send "Authorization": "Bearer <token>" instead of X-API-Key. Claude Code asks you to approve a project's servers the first time it uses them.

Claude Desktop

Edit the configuration file for your platform:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "marmot": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp",
        "--header",
        "X-API-Key:<api-key>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

For a server on plain HTTP, such as a local one, add --allow-http to args.

Cursor

Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json for every project, or to .cursor/mcp.json in a project's root for that project only:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "marmot": {
      "url": "https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "<api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

To keep the key out of the file, use ${env:MARMOT_API_KEY} in its place.

Cline

In VS Code, open Cline, select the MCP Servers icon, then Configure MCP Servers, and add Marmot to cline_mcp_settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "marmot": {
      "url": "https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "X-API-Key": "<api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

LibreChat

Add Marmot to librechat.yaml:

mcpServers:
  marmot:
    type: streamable-http
    url: https://<your-marmot-server>/api/v1/mcp
    headers:
      X-API-Key: <api-key>
    timeout: 30000

To keep the key out of the file, use ${MARMOT_API_KEY} in its place.

Then ask the assistant something only your catalog knows, such as "who owns the orders table?". It should answer with a real owner and the asset it found.

Use a service account

An assistant that signs in with your API key has your permissions. An agent that runs on its own should have its own identity instead, so you can limit what it reaches and see what it did:

1. Under Settings → Service accounts, select Create service account.
2. Give it a role with assets:view, glossary:view and teams:view.
3. Create an API key for it and put that key in the client configuration.

Hosted clients

Clients can also sign in with OAuth instead of an API key. The client registers itself with Marmot and completes a browser sign-in, so there's nothing to set up for clients running on your own machine.

A hosted client such as claude.ai calls back to an https address, so add its host to the server configuration:

auth:
  dcr:
    allowed_redirect_hosts:
      - claude.ai

The environment variable MARMOT_AUTH_DCR_ALLOWED_REDIRECT_HOSTS takes the same list, separated by commas. Hosts on this list receive sign-in codes for your Marmot server, so only add hosts you trust.

Each person sees the clients they've allowed under Account → Connected apps. Revoke signs one out straight away.

Tools

The server gives an assistant these tools:

Tool	What it answers
discover_data	Finds assets by name, type, provider, tags or metadata
find_ownership	Who owns an asset, and everything a person or team owns
lookup_term	Glossary definitions and the assets linked to a term
explore_data_products	Which data products exist and the assets in each
explore_teams	Teams and their members
trace_lineage	What feeds an asset and what depends on it
update_documentation	Writes a plain-language description on an asset, without touching the one a plugin ingested
manage_tags, manage_owners	Adds or removes tags and owners on an asset
list_queryable_sources, query_data	Runs a read-only SQL statement against a source whose pipeline is set up to answer queries; see data queries

The tools that change the catalog need assets:manage. An identity without it can still use every read tool.

Next steps

• Skills: teach an agent the Marmot CLI and API as well.
• Marmot for agents: build your own agent on the catalog with LangChain or the Claude Agent SDK.