Set up the Kinde MCP server with AI assistants

Learn how to set up the Kinde MCP Server with popular AI assistants like Cursor, Claude Desktop, and VS Code. The Kinde MCP Server enables you to manage users, organizations, roles, permissions, and more directly from your IDE using natural language, eliminating the need to switch between your code editor and the Kinde dashboard.

What you need

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• A Kinde account with admin access to your business (Sign up for free)
• An AI assistant that supports MCP protocol (e.g., Claude Desktop)

Step 1: Create an Environment API Key

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An Environment API Key is a global authentication key in Kinde that enables you to access your Kinde Users, Organizations, Roles, Permissions, and more programmatically, using the Kinde Management API, or the Kinde MCP Server. To get one, follow the steps below:

1. Sign in to your Kinde dashboard

2. Navigate to Settings > APIs > Kinde Management API > select View details

3. Go to the API Keys tab

4. Select Add API Key, a pop-up appears.

5. Give your key a name (e.g., “Cursor MCP Access”)

6. Check the option to Can be used by the Kinde MCP server.

   

7. Select the scopes you want to grant:

   • read:users — View user information
   • read:organizations — View organizations
   • create:roles — Create new roles
   • create:permissions — Create permissions

   See all the available scopes you can use with the Kinde MCP Server

   Security note

   Only grant the minimum scopes necessary for your use case. You can always create additional API keys with different scope configurations.

8. Select Create

9. Copy and save the generated API key, you will need it for the next step.

   

Step 2: Configure the AI Assistant

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Now that you have your API key, configure your AI assistant to connect to the Kinde MCP Server using the following JSON configuration:

"kinde": {
  "url": "https://YOUR_BUSINESS.kinde.com/mcp",
    "headers": {
      "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
  }
}

• Replace: YOUR_BUSINESS with your Kinde subdomain (e.g., acme for acme.kinde.com).
• Replace: YOUR_API_KEY with the Environment API Key from Step 1.

Select your preferred AI assistant below to configure the MCP server:

Cursor

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1. Open Cursor

2. Go to Cursor > Settings > Cursor Settings

3. Navigate to Tools & MCP

4. Select Add custom MCP or if you already have other MCP servers, select New MCP server, the mcp.json file opens.

   

5. Add the following configuration, and save the file.

   mcp.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "kinde": {
         "url": "https://YOUR_BUSINESS.kinde.com/mcp",
         "headers": {
           "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }

6. Save and restart Cursor.

7. Once enabled, you should now see the Kinde MCP server in the list of Installed MCP Servers:

   

Claude Desktop

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1. Open Claude Desktop

2. Go to Settings > Developer > select Edit Config, the claude_desktop_config.json file opens in your file browser.

   

3. Open the file in your preferred text editor.

4. Enter the following configuration, and save the file.

   claude_desktop_config.json

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "kinde": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "mcp-remote",
           "https://YOUR_BUSINESS.kinde.com/mcp",
           "--header",
           "Authorization: Bearer ${auth_token}"
         ],
         "env": {
           "auth_token": "YOUR_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }

5. Restart Claude Desktop.

6. You should now see the Kinde MCP server on the page.

   

VS Code

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1. Open the Command Palette by pressing Ctrl+Shift+P (or Cmd+Shift+P on macOS)

2. Type MCP: Open User Configuration and select it; the mcp.json file opens.

3. Add the following configuration and save the file.

   mcp.json

   {
     "servers": {
       "kinde": {
         "type": "http",
         "url": "https://YOUR_BUSINESS.kinde.com/mcp",
         "headers": {
           "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }

4. Restart VS Code.

5. Go to the Extensions section and open the MCP panel. You should see the Kinde MCP server listed there.

   

Step 3: Testing the MCP Server

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Once you have set up the MCP server, you can ask your AI assistant “What tools do you have available from Kinde?” to see the available operations.

Sample output from Claude Desktop:

I have access to these Kinde API tools:

Users:

GetUsers - List/filter users by email, phone, username, user_id, or organization status
GetUserData - Get specific user details by ID

Organizations:

GetOrganizations - List organizations with sorting options
GetOrganization - Get specific organization details by code

Roles & Permissions:

CreateRole - Create new roles with keys, names, descriptions, and default settings
CreatePermission - Create new permissions with keys, names, and descriptions

All tools support expanding related data (organizations, identities, billing) where applicable.

What would you like to do with Kinde?

Below are some more example prompts you can try out with the MCP Server.

User Management

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• “List all users who signed up in the last 7 days”
• “Find the user with email john@example.com and show me their profile”
• “How many users do I have in total?”

Role & Permission Management

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• “Create a new role called ‘content-moderator’ that can read and update posts”
• “Show me all the permissions assigned to the ‘admin’ role”
• “What roles does the user with ID usr_abc123 have?”

Organization Management

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• “List all organizations and how many users each has”
• “Show me the feature flags enabled for the ‘enterprise’ organization”
• “What permissions does john@example.com have in ‘acme-corp’?”

Properties & Configuration

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• “Create a custom user property called ‘department’ that accepts text values”
• “Show me all the environment variables configured”

Check out the available operations and scopes page for more information on the available operations.

Troubleshooting Kinde MCP Server

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Why am I seeing “No tools available” or an empty tool list?

If you’re not seeing any tools available from the Kinde MCP server, try the following:

• Verify your API key has the correct scopes
• Ensure Enable for MCP Server is checked
• Check that your API key is active and not revoked

Why am I getting “Authentication required” or “Invalid token” errors?

If you’re encountering authentication errors, check the following:

• Check your API key is copied correctly (no missing characters or extra spaces)
• Verify the format: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY (The word “Bearer” is required)
• Confirm your Kinde subdomain is correct

Why am I experiencing connection timeouts?

In case of connection issues, make sure the URL: https://YOUR_BUSINESS.kinde.com/mcp and your API key are correct. Restart your AI assistant if needed. And finally check your internet connection.

Why can’t I create or update users and organizations using the MCP server?

As AI can misinterpret requests or hallucinate, the scopes that the Kinde MCP server can be assigned are currently limited to gets and creates only. This ensures that AI clients can query information and create new resources, but cannot modify or delete existing data, providing an additional layer of safety when using AI to interact with your Kinde account.

Security Best Practices

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• Least privilege — Only grant the scopes your AI assistant actually needs
• Separate keys — Create different API keys for different use cases
• Rotate regularly — Periodically rotate your Environment API Keys
• Monitor usage — Check Kinde audit logs for MCP Server operations
• Never share — Don’t commit API keys to version control

Conclusion

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Congratulations! You’ve successfully set up the Kinde MCP Server with your AI assistant. Now you can manage your entire Kinde environment using simple, natural language. No more switching between tabs, navigating complex dashboards, or memorizing API endpoints. Just ask your AI assistant what you need, and it handles the rest. Whether you’re querying user data, creating roles, or managing organizations, everything happens right where you’re already working: in your IDE.

Next Steps

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• Try it out — Test the power of natural language with the example prompts in the Testing the MCP Server section. Ask questions like “Show me all test users” or “Create a new role called moderator” and see how easy it is.
• Discover capabilities — Review the About the Kinde MCP Server documentation to see everything you can accomplish with MCP server.
• Fine-tune your setup — Ensure your AI assistant has the appropriate scopes for the operations you need. Create additional API keys for different agents.