> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.ref.tools/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Installation

> Install Ref in your preferred coding environment

## About Ref's MCP Server

Ref runs as a **streamable HTTP server** that implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This means you can connect to Ref's documentation search capabilities from any MCP-compatible client without installing additional packages locally.

### Authentication

Ref's API accepts authentication in three ways:

1. **As a header**: `x-ref-api-key: YOUR_API_KEY`
2. **As a query parameter**: `?apiKey=YOUR_API_KEY`
3. **OAuth**: Include neither header or query param and your MCP client will initiate OAuth sign-in.

The streamable HTTP endpoint is available at `https://api.ref.tools/mcp`.

You can find your API key at [ref.tools/keys](https://ref.tools/keys)

### OAuth and Teams

If you use OAuth in combination with [Teams](/usage/teams), you may need to specify the team you want Ref to access. Ref will do it's best to intelligently pick the correct team but you may want to manually force a specific team.

Here is the algorithm Ref uses to pick the user or team scope:

```
For base OAuth url https://api.ref.tools/mcp if the user belongs to:
  - no teams -> user scope
  - one team -> team scope for the users single team
  - multiple teams -> user scope, require specifying team

When specifying scope in OAuth url https://api.ref.tools/mcp?scope=(user|{team_id})
  - scope=user -> user scope
  - scope={team_id} -> team scope
```

Team ids have the format `t-<hash>`. You can find the team OAuth url at [ref.tools/install](https://ref.tools/install)

***

## Installation Guides

Choose your coding environment below to get started:

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