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# Enable MCP and register clients

This topic covers one-time OpenText Software Delivery Management-side setup required to enable MCP register clients.

In this topic:

## Authentication options

MCP supports two authentication methods.

Authentication method | Best for
--- | ---
OAuth 2.1 | User-based login flows (for example, desktop IDE clients) with short-lived access tokens and long-lived refresh tokens.
API access key | Simple setups, service-style access, and clients configured with a static token.

## API access key authentication

Create an API access bearer token in the target space and configure the client with the generated token. Use Token type.

For details, see API access.

## OAuth 2.1 authentication

OAuth 2.1 lets AI clients authenticate as a real OpenText Software Delivery Management user through a browser login, without storing long-lived credentials in config files.

Submit a support ticket to enable OAuth 2.1 authentication for MCP. You need to provide the following information:

- AI client names. For example: Claude desktop, Cursor, VS Code with Github Copilot

- Redirect URIs. See details below.

MCP clients obtain an access token through the OAuth 2.1 authorization code flow and present it in the `Authorization` header of requests: `Authorization: Bearer <access-token>`

OAuth 2.1 metadata is available at: `<server>/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server`

The following site parameters must be set:

Parameter | Value
--- | ---
OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_ENABLED | true
OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_CLIENTS | A JSON array, each block describing a client. See details below.

For details on setting site parameters, see Configuration parameters.

### Register MCP clients

Every AI client that uses OAuth must be pre-registered in the OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_CLIENTS site parameter. Unregistered clients are rejected at the authorization endpoint. Only public OAuth clients are supported, as defined in RFC 8252 section 8.4.

JSON entry format for a client:

    [
      {
        "client_id":    "<unique-id-for-this-client>",
        "client_name":  "<human-readable-name>",
        "redirect_uris": ["<callback-uri-1>", "<callback-uri-2>"]
      }
    ]

Field | Description
--- | ---
`client_id` | Unique identifier. Must match the `client_id` the MCP client sends in its OAuth request. Must be unique across all entries. Duplicate `client_id` values are rejected. The parameter save will fail validation if two entries share the same `client_id`.
`client_name` | A label or description to help you identify what this client is for.
`redirect_uris` | Non-empty array of allowed callback URIs. Requests with an unregistered `redirect_uri` are rejected.

> Changes to OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_SERVER_CLIENTS take effect immediately. No server restart is required.

### Redirect URI rules

- Loopback URIs (`http://127.0.0.1/...`, `http://localhost/...`, `http://[::1]/...`) are stored and matched without a port number: any port is accepted at request time. This behavior is defined in RFC 8252 section 7.3 and is required for desktop clients that pick a random free port.
- Non-loopback URIs must match the registered value exactly (scheme, host, port, and path).

### Redirect URIs by client

Use the redirect URIs in the table below as a starting point. Verify against your client version's documentation, as they can change between releases.

Client | Typical `redirect_uris` to register
--- | ---
Claude Desktop | `http://127.0.0.1/oauth/callback`, `http://localhost/oauth/callback`
VS Code with GitHub Copilot | `vscode://github.copilot-chat/oauth/callback`, `vscode-insiders://github.copilot-chat/oauth/callback`
IntelliJ with GitHub Copilot | `http://127.0.0.1/callback`, `http://localhost/callback`
Cursor | `http://127.0.0.1/oauth/callback`, `http://localhost/oauth/callback`

Register all URIs a client may use. Include both loopback variants for desktop clients that may use either `127.0.0.1` or `localhost`.

### Example — registering Claude Desktop, VS Code Copilot, and IntelliJ Copilot:

    [
        {
            "client_id": "sdp_claude",
            "client_name": "claude_desktop",
            "redirect_uris": [
                "http://localhost:3334/oauth/callback"
            ],
            "scope": "mcp"
        },
        {
            "client_id": "copilot_sdp_vsc",
            "client_name": "GitHub Copilot",
            "redirect_uris": [
                "http://127.0.0.1:33418/",
                "https://vscode.dev/redirect"
            ]
        },
        {
            "client_id": "copilot_sdp_INTELLIJ",
            "client_name": "GitHub Copilot",
            "redirect_uris": [
                "http://127.0.0.1/callback",
                "http://localhost/callback"
            ]
        }
    ]

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