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: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.
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.
Search
Locate context by content or by meaning.Write
Create and maintain context.
For
qontext_create_file, supply path, the full Markdown body, and a commit message. The path must end in a plain .md filename without a file ID, and the parent folder must already exist. If the name is taken, choose another name and retry.
To update a file with qontext_write, use its versioned path from qontext_ls or qontext_find. For consecutive edits, use the previous write’s returned id in the path (/folder/name.<returned id>.md). The next write can be submitted before the earlier one merges.
For a folder tree with more than 500 files and folders combined, remove smaller subfolders or individual files before deleting the parent. The force option does not bypass this limit or file protection; it only tolerates a target that is already absent.
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.