Chord MCP
13 min
try chord mcp in claude desktop chord mcp turns claude into a data analyst for your store once it's connected, you can ask questions like "how many returning customers viewed a cart before purchasing?" in plain english, and claude pulls the answer straight from your chord warehouse — writing and running the sql for you behind the scenes this guide walks you through connecting chord mcp to claude desktop in about five minutes no coding required for the recommended path; a more technical setup is covered at the end for engineers who want it what you'll need a claude account (free, pro, max, team, or enterprise) with claude desktop installed a chord account with access to your organization's data about 5 minutes what is chord mcp? mcp (model context protocol) is an open standard that lets ai assistants like claude connect securely to outside tools and data chord mcp is our hosted mcp server it gives claude a safe, read only window into your chord data warehouse when you ask a data question, claude uses chord mcp to look up the right tables and saved queries in your warehouse apply your organization's conventions (how you define revenue, which test orders to exclude, and so on) write the sql, run it, and explain the answer back to you you stay in control the whole time the connection is read only — claude can look at your data and answer questions, but it can't change or delete anything set up chord mcp (recommended path) the easiest way to connect is through claude's built in custom connectors this works entirely in the claude interface — no terminal, no config files a note for team and enterprise plans only an organization owner can add a custom connector for the whole org if you're on a team or enterprise plan and don't see the option to add one, ask your claude workspace owner to add chord mcp first (using the steps below), then skip to step 3 1\ open your connectors settings in claude, go to settings → connectors on pro or max plans, this is under customize → connectors click the "+" button, then "add custom connector " on team or enterprise plans, an owner adds it under organization settings → connectors → "add" → hover "custom" → select "web " 2\ add the chord mcp server url when prompted for the remote mcp server url, enter \<https //mcp chord co/mcp> leave the optional advanced settings (oauth client id / secret) blank — you don't need them click "add " 3\ connect and sign in find chord in your list of connectors and click "connect " a browser window opens for you to sign in to chord and approve access this is a standard oauth sign in — claude never sees your password, and you can revoke access anytime from your connector settings once you've approved, you're connected ✅ 4\ turn it on in a conversation start a new chat click the "+" (or "search and tools" ) button near the message box, choose connectors , and make sure chord is toggled on for the conversation ask your first question type a question in plain english claude will recognize it as a data question and use chord mcp automatically try one of these "how many orders did we have last month?" "what was our gross revenue in q1, broken down by month?" "show me our top 10 products by revenue this year " "how many new customers did we acquire last quarter versus the quarter before?" "what's our average order value over the last 90 days?" behind the scenes, claude finds the right tables, applies your warehouse conventions, writes the sql, runs it, and explains the result — usually citing which tables and definitions it used so you can trust the number tip the more specific you are, the better "gross revenue" and "net revenue" can mean different things — say which one you want, and claude will use the matching definition what claude can do with chord mcp once connected, claude has a toolkit for working with your warehouse you don't need to call these directly — claude picks the right ones — but here's what's happening under the hood capability what it does ask turns your plain english question into grounded, validated sql using chord's full text to sql pipeline this is claude's first stop for any data question run query executes the read only sql and returns the rows search schema discovers which tables exist in your warehouse and what they contain saved views checks whether a trusted, pre built query already answers your question past queries finds similar questions you've asked before as examples instructions applies your org's standing rules (revenue definitions, test order exclusions, segmentation logic) documentation answers "how do i…" questions about chord copilot itself preview table peeks at a few rows of a table for a quick sanity check tenants lets you see and switch between chord organizations you belong to working across multiple organizations? if you have access to more than one chord org, just ask claude something like "switch to the \[org name] organization" and it will route your questions to that warehouse for the rest of the conversation troubleshooting claude isn't using chord / says it can't reach the data make sure the chord connector is toggled on for your current conversation (the "+" or "search and tools" menu) connectors are enabled per chat the connector won't connect chord mcp connects from claude's cloud, not from your laptop, so https //mcp chord co/mcp needs to be reachable over the public internet this works out of the box for the hosted chord endpoint if your team runs chord behind a corporate firewall or vpn, your network admin may need to allowlist anthropic's ip ranges i signed in but still get permission errors your chord account needs access to the organization's data confirm with your chord admin that your account has the right permissions, then disconnect and reconnect the connector i need to change the connection to edit a custom connector, remove it (connectors settings → the three dot menu → remove ) and add it again with the updated details advanced connect via config file (for engineers) if you'd rather wire chord mcp up through claude desktop's local configuration instead of the custom connectors ui, you can this uses the mcp remote shim to bridge claude desktop to the hosted server requirements node js (for npx) and, for the script below, jq macos and linux only option a — one line installer run curl fssl \<https //raw\ githubusercontent com/chordcommerce/chord copilot/main/install sh> | bash s client claude desktop this merges a chord mcp entry into your claude desktop config json then fully quit claude desktop ( cmd+q on macos) and reopen it the first connection opens a browser for oauth sign in option b — edit the config by hand open your claude desktop config file macos /library/application support/claude/claude desktop config json linux / config/claude/claude desktop config json add chord under mcpservers { "mcpservers" { "chord copilot" { "command" "npx", "args" \[" y", "mcp remote", "\<https //mcp chord co/mcp>"] } } } save the file, fully quit and reopen claude desktop, and complete the browser sign in on first connect heads up the local config file method (claude desktop config json) is a separate mechanism from custom connectors and is specific to claude desktop for most people, the recommended custom connector path is simpler and also works in claude on the web and cowork questions? reach out to your chord contact or email support\@chord co and we'll help you get connected