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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.

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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

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OAuth and Teams

If you use OAuth in combination with 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

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Installation Guides

Choose your coding environment below to get started:

Cursor

Connect Cursor to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Claude Code

Connect Claude Code to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Claude Desktop

Connect Claude Desktop and Web to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

VS Code

Connect VS Code to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Antigravity

Connect Antigravity to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Windsurf

Connect Windsurf to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Cline

Connect Cline to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Kiro

Connect Kiro to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Roo Code

Connect Roo Code to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Goose

Connect Goose to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Amp

Connect Amp to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Augment

Connect Augment to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

ChatGPT

Connect ChatGPT to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Devin

Connect Devin to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

OpenCode

Connect OpenCode to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Codex CLI

Connect Codex CLI to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Droid CLI

Connect Factory Droid CLI to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.

Gemini CLI

Connect Gemini CLI to up-to-date and token-efficient documentation.