Skip to main content

Overview

MCP (Model Context Protocol) allows AI tools to connect directly to your context repository. Once connected, AI agents can retrieve, search, and update context while respecting the permissions and access controls configured in Qontext. Examples include:

Connecting via MCP

Qontext exposes a hosted MCP server:
You can connect with OAuth or an API key. Both authentication methods provide access to the same MCP tools.

Connect with OAuth

Configure the MCP server URL in your client and complete the authentication flow. The client uses the permissions of the workspace member who authorizes it.

Connect with an API key

Use an API key when a client needs its own access controls or a connection without an interactive OAuth flow. Using a separate key for each client or use case also makes retrieval activity easier to trace and lets you rotate or revoke its access independently.
1

Prepare the API key

Create an API key. If the client needs its own scope, choose Manually manage, then open the API key’s settings and configure the required files and folders under Access Controls. See Access management for more details.
2

Configure the MCP client

Add Qontext as a remote MCP server:Then authenticate with the API key using either option:Both options authenticate the same API key and use its configured access controls.
Please refer to the Clients section for client-specific setup instructions.

Available operations

The MCP server exposes the context repository through a POSIX-like set of operations.

Read

Browse the file system and read content. References between files are returned inline as file IDs, so a client can traverse the interconnected file system by passing a returned ID straight into qontext_cat. Locate context by content or by meaning.

Write

Create and maintain context. Writes flow through Qontext’s versioning: every edit is captured in the version history and reconciled into the repository, so concurrent edits are tracked rather than silently overwritten.