Help

How to add Kin to Claude, ChatGPT and other AI apps, what to do when something does not work, and how to reach us. Kin is operated by Kin Computing, Inc.

Before you start

You need an AI app that lets you add a remote MCP connection and an account with the service you want it to use. Your AI subscription is separate from Kin. Start with Kin Free; upgrading Kin does not unlock features in another app.

Using ChatGPT? Open ChatGPT Plugins on the web and check for Add custom MCP server before signing up. OpenAI controls access, including workspace permissions and security restrictions. If it is missing or disabled, ask your workspace admin or OpenAI support. Check OpenAI’s current requirements.

Using Claude? Check Customize, then Connectors, for Add custom connector. In a team workspace, an owner may need to add it first.

Once your app supports the connection, create your free Kin account, add a service, and follow your app’s guide below.

What Kin does

Kin connects the apps you work in, such as Notion, GitHub, Linear and Todoist, and lets your AI apps use them through one address. You decide what each account allows, and Kin checks it on its own server each time an AI app tries something.

Allow: the action runs right away.
Ask me: the action waits until you approve it, and your approval covers only the request you saw.
Block: the action never runs.
Read only: you can limit a whole account to reading, and an AI app to Can only read.

Every call to run an action is recorded in Activity: which AI app asked, which account and action, and the outcome.

Choose your AI app

MCP is the connection standard your AI app uses to reach Kin. OAuth means you sign in to Kin and choose access, without pasting a secret key.

Claudeclaude.ai and the Claude desktop app.

In Claude, open Customize, then Connectors.
Select + Add, then Add custom connector.
Enter a name, such as Kin. Paste this as the remote MCP server URL, then select Continue:
```
https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp
```
Claude asks how to sign in to Kin. Select Continue if it shows one. Choose Sign in now under Authentication and Use Claude’s published identity under OAuth client, so you sign in to Kin yourself in the next step. Then select Add.
Claude opens a Kin sign-in window. Choose what Claude may use, then approve.
To use it in a chat, select the + button at the lower left, then Connectors, and turn on Kin.

On Team and Enterprise plans, an owner adds the connector in Organization settings under Connectors: Add, then Custom, then Web. Each person then selects Connect under Customize, Connectors.
Free Claude accounts can add one custom connector.
You cannot change how a connector signs in after adding it. Remove it and add it again.
A connector you add on the web or in the desktop app also works in the Claude apps for iOS and Android.

Claude Help Center

ChatGPTChatGPT on the web.

In a browser, go to chatgpt.com/plugins.
Select Add, then Create custom MCP server. Some accounts show + and Add custom MCP server instead.
Enter a name, such as Kin. Under Connection, paste this as the Server URL:
```
https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp
```
For authentication, choose OAuth.
Read the warning, select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin.
Install the plugin from your personal plugins, or from the workspace you created it in. A Kin sign-in window opens. Choose what ChatGPT may use, then approve.
In a chat, type @ and select Kin.

Before creating a Kin account, open chatgpt.com/plugins and check whether Add custom MCP server is available. OpenAI controls access, and workspace permissions and security restrictions can prevent it.
If that option is missing or disabled, check with your workspace admin or OpenAI support before continuing. A paid Kin plan does not enable a ChatGPT feature.
ChatGPT asks you to confirm before it runs an action through Kin, because an action can change something. Finding and describing actions does not ask.
If ChatGPT says a call was blocked by OpenAI’s safety checks, the request never reached Kin, so nothing ran. Ask ChatGPT to try again. It often goes through on the next try.
ChatGPT on the web has no place to paste a key for a custom server, so signing in is the only way.

OpenAI developer documentation

Claude CodeAnthropic’s coding agent in the terminal.

In a terminal, add Kin to Claude Code:

claude mcp add --transport http kin https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp

Start the sign-in. Run this, or type /mcp inside Claude Code and choose kin:
```
claude mcp login kin
```
A Kin sign-in window opens in your browser. Choose what Claude Code may use, then approve.

This adds Kin to the current project. Add --scope user to the command to use it in every project.
On a computer with no browser, add --no-browser to the login command. It prints the sign-in address for you to open elsewhere.

Claude Code documentation

CodexOpenAI’s coding agent: CLI, IDE extension and desktop app.

In a terminal, add Kin to Codex. Codex starts the sign-in on its own:
```
codex mcp add kin --url https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp
```
If no browser window opens, start the sign-in yourself:
```
codex mcp login kin
```
Choose what Codex may use in the Kin window that opens, then approve.
Check the result. The Auth column for kin should read OAuth:
```
codex mcp list
```

Signing in needs Codex 0.147.0 or newer. Older versions stop with “Authorization server response missing required issuer”. Check yours with codex --version, update it, then run codex mcp login kin again.
The Codex CLI, the IDE extension and the ChatGPT desktop app share this configuration.
In the IDE extension or desktop app you can also open MCP servers in settings, select Add server, choose Streamable HTTP and paste the address. Save it, restart (Restart in the desktop app, Restart extension in the IDE), then select Authenticate.

Codex documentation

CursorThe Cursor editor and its CLI.

Open ~/.cursor/mcp.json, creating it if needed. To use Kin in one project only, use .cursor/mcp.json in that project.

Add Kin under mcpServers, with no token:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "kin": {
      "url": "https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Save the file and restart Cursor. When Cursor asks you to sign in to this server, a Kin window opens. Kin cannot check apps that sign in on your computer, so it starts Cursor with nothing ticked. Tick the connections Cursor may use, choose Can read and change if it should make changes, then approve.
With Cursor’s CLI you can start the sign-in yourself, then list the tools to check it worked:
```
agent mcp login kin
agent mcp list-tools kin
```

If the file already lists other servers, add the kin entry beside them. Do not replace the file.
Grok Build also installs a command named agent. If agent --version starts with grok, the agent commands above reach Grok, not Cursor. Run Cursor’s CLI by its full path, or put it first on your PATH.

Cursor documentation

VS CodeGitHub Copilot in Visual Studio Code.

Open the Command Palette and run MCP: Open User Configuration. To use Kin in one project only, edit .vscode/mcp.json in that project.

Add Kin under servers:

{
  "servers": {
    "kin": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Save the file and start the server: run MCP: List Servers, choose kin, then Start Server.
VS Code says the server wants to authenticate to Kin. Select Allow, then Open. In the browser window: Kin cannot check apps that sign in on your computer, so it starts VS Code with nothing ticked. Tick the connections VS Code may use, choose Can read and change if it should make changes, then approve.

On Copilot Business and Enterprise, an admin first turns on the MCP servers in Copilot policy. It is off by default.
The first time the server starts, VS Code asks whether you trust it. Trust it to continue.
Recent versions of VS Code also have an MCP: Add Server command that walks you through adding a server. If you use it, paste the address when it asks.
If the file already lists other servers, add the kin entry beside them.

VS Code documentation

Gemini CLIGoogle’s agent in the terminal.

In a terminal, add Kin to Gemini CLI for every project:

gemini mcp add -s user --transport http kin https://app.kinlab.ai/mcp

Start Gemini CLI in the folder you work in. If it asks whether you trust the files in this folder, choose Trust folder. Gemini CLI keeps MCP servers off in a folder it does not trust.
Type:
```
/mcp auth kin
```
Gemini CLI asks whether to open your browser. Choose Yes.
A Kin window opens. Kin cannot check apps that sign in on your computer, so it starts Gemini CLI with nothing ticked. Tick the connections Gemini CLI may use, choose Can read and change if it should make changes, then approve.
Check the result. kin should read Ready, with 5 tools:
```
/mcp list
```

To add Kin to one project only, leave out -s user and run the command in that project. Gemini CLI refuses that in a folder it does not trust yet, so start Gemini CLI there and trust it first.
If kin reads Disabled, Gemini CLI does not trust this folder. Type /permissions trust, then /mcp auth kin.

Gemini CLI documentation

After connecting, try a read first, such as “Use Kin to find my open tasks.” Set changes to Ask me so you can review the exact request before it runs.

If your app needs a token instead of signing in, the AI apps page gives you one and the matching setup steps. You choose when it expires and can replace or remove it there.

Get the Kin apps

Kin works in your browser. Downloads lists the Mac, iPhone, Apple Watch and Android apps and the Kin bridge for Windows and Linux, and says which can be installed today.

Connect your tools

Start with a service you already use. For example:

Notion: find notes and work with pages.
Todoist: find and manage your tasks.
GitHub: work with repositories, issues and pull requests.
Linear: find and update work issues.

In Kin, open Connections, then Add a connection. The directory shows each service’s current availability and whether it needs a sign-in or API key. Review the actions and choose your rules before letting an AI app use the account. Availability can depend on the service and your account with it.

Gmail and Google Drive

Full Gmail and Drive access is invite-only for now. Creating a Kin account or upgrading your plan does not unlock it.

To request access, sign in to Kin, open Connections, then Add a connection, and find the Google service. An invite-only entry offers Request access. Kin emails you when access is ready. A request does not guarantee an invitation or a date.

Check the entry’s available actions and requested permissions before connecting. You can use another supported service while you wait.

Approvals

When an action is set to Ask me, your AI app gets a link to a review page on Kin. Open it, check the exact request, and approve or deny it. Approving runs the request once. Then ask your AI app for the result. A request nobody answers expires after one hour.

When something does not work

An AI app cannot connect: remove Kin from the AI app, add it again, and sign in again.
An AI app connects but finds nothing: open AI apps, open the app’s menu, choose Edit access, and choose which connections it may use. An app Kin could not check starts with none.
An AI app says an action is not available: check that action’s rule on the connection’s page under Connections, and what the AI app may use under AI apps.
An action is waiting: open Tasks, then choose Approve once or Deny.
A connection needs you to sign in again: open it under Connections and choose Sign in again, or Replace the key for a connection that uses one.
You reached a plan limit: Settings › Workspace shows what your plan includes and what you have used.

Your data

What Kin stores, and what only passes through it, is on What Kin holds. See also the privacy policy and the terms.

Contact

Write to support@kinlab.ai, or use Chat with us at the bottom of this page. To report a security problem, see the last section of What Kin holds.