Connecting an MCP Client

Connecting a client to a Salesforce Hosted MCP Server is a process that involves both Salesforce Setup and your selected client application.

To connect an MCP client, follow these steps in order:

1. Create an External Client App — Register an External Client App (ECA) in your org to handle OAuth authentication. Each MCP server configuration links to one ECA. Note: You can't use Connected Apps for MCP authentication.

2. Configure Your MCP Client — Add the MCP server URL and your External Client App's consumer key to your selected client. Detailed instructions are available for:

   • Postman
   • Claude
   • ChatGPT
   • Cursor

3. Test Your MCP Client — Verify the connection - issue a natural language request through the client's chat interface and check for a response.

Tip: Before connecting a full LLM client, consider testing with Postman first. Postman calls MCP tools directly and returns raw JSON without LLM interpretation so you can verify authentication, server connections, and tool responses before adding an AI model.

Postman supports OAuth 2.0 with PKCE natively and doesn’t require any additional software. It's the recommended first step for developers evaluating the integration.

Salesforce has tested these MCP clients. Other clients that support OAuth 2.0 Authorization Code with PKCE should also work.