Local MCP server

Most hosts should use the remote connector at https://mcp.cralo.ai/mcp. See Connect with MCP for Cursor, Claude, ChatGPT, and Grok setup.

Hosts that cannot use remote MCP can talk to Cralo over local stdio instead of shelling out to the CLI for every call. cralo mcp serve starts a local stdio MCP server backed by the same authenticated API client as the CLI.

Setup

Authenticate first, then configure your host:

cralo auth login
cralo integrations configure <host>

<host> is one of claude-code, claude-desktop, or cursor. For claude-desktop and cursor, the command prints the configuration by default; pass --write to merge it into the host’s config file directly, and --force to overwrite an existing cralo entry. For claude-code, it prints a claude mcp add one-liner to run yourself.

Claude Code

cralo integrations configure claude-code

Prints the command to register the server directly with the Claude Code CLI:

claude mcp add cralo -- cralo mcp serve

Claude Desktop

cralo integrations configure claude-desktop
# or write directly:
cralo integrations configure claude-desktop --write

Prints the config path (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows, ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json elsewhere) and the JSON block to merge into it:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "cralo": {
      "command": "cralo",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"]
    }
  }
}

--write merges this into the existing file without disturbing other configured servers. If a cralo entry already exists with different content, it refuses to overwrite unless --force is passed.

Cursor

cralo integrations configure cursor
# or write directly:
cralo integrations configure cursor --write

Prints the config path (~/.cursor/mcp.json) and the same mcpServers.cralo JSON block shown above.

Meta-tools

cralo mcp serve exposes a small, fixed set of meta-tools rather than one MCP tool per catalog entry, so newly published tools are usable immediately without a host restart or a new MCP tool definition.

Tool	Cost	Purpose
`cralo_list_tools`	Free	List available tools (names and summaries only).
`cralo_search_tools`	Free	Search with a question or keywords; empty query lists tools.
`cralo_describe_tool`	Free	Full schema, price, and documentation for one tool.
`cralo_call_tool`	Costs credits	Execute a tool with an automatic quote-based price guard.
`cralo_get_invocation`	Free	Get the current state or final result of an asynchronous invocation.
`cralo_wait_invocation`	Free	Wait (bounded, cancellable) for an asynchronous invocation to finish.
`cralo_get_balance`	Free	Get prepaid credit balance.

Agents should describe a tool before calling it (the same discipline as the CLI’s tools describe before tools call). cralo_call_tool applies a quote-based price guard automatically and accepts an optional max_price_microusd cap. Canonical names start with cralo_. Legacy opentooler_* names still work as aliases so existing prompts keep functioning.

Authentication

The MCP server uses the same credential as the CLI: the device-flow key stored after cralo auth login, or CRALO_API_KEY for headless hosts that can’t complete an interactive login. If no credential is available when a tool is called, every meta-tool returns an AUTH_REQUIRED error asking the human to run cralo auth login in a terminal. The MCP server never prompts for login itself.

Getting started

Using Cralo

CLI reference

Local MCP server

Setup

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Meta-tools

Authentication

​Setup

​Claude Code

​Claude Desktop

​Cursor

​Meta-tools

​Authentication

Setup

Claude Code

Claude Desktop

Cursor

Meta-tools

Authentication