About Glean MCP server
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an emerging open-source standard designed to act as a universal interface, enabling AI assistants to securely connect with external data and tools—without requiring custom integrations. Think of it as a "USB for AI applications", providing a standard way for large language models (LLMs) to discover and use capabilities in other tools.
How Glean's MCP servers connect your tools to AI, bringing your company's full context wherever your AI runs
MCP Architecture
MCP uses a client/server architecture:
- MCP Host Application (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor, or a custom AI app):
The AI application a user interacts with. It uses an MCP client to communicate with servers. - MCP Server (e.g., Glean MCP server):
Exposes tools that the host application's LLM can invoke.
Key Benefits of Glean MCP Integration
Unified, High-Relevance Search
Unlike native MCP servers from individual apps (e.g., Jira, Slack) that offer siloed results, Glean MCP server query Glean's unified Knowledge Graph. This delivers more relevant, permission-aware results across all connected sources.
Accessing Enterprise Context
Bring Glean's permission-aware enterprise context into your preferred MCP hosts. Tools like search, chat, and read_document surface organization-specific content (documents, tickets, people, code) while enforcing user permissions, so users can act with the right context without leaving their workflow.
Enhanced Security
While MCP's open standard has an evolving security model, Glean's integration is built on its permission-aware Knowledge Graph, enforcing strict user-level access control.
Ecosystem Compatibility
As an industry standard, MCP reduces vendor lock-in. Glean's approach to MCP makes it a "plug-and-play" component for any compliant AI agent or app.
Bring Glean to Any App
Developers and power users can access Glean's search, chat, and agents directly in their preferred tools (e.g., Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT) reducing context switching.
Common Use Cases
Enterprise Context in AI Tools
Enable permission-aware search and document retrieval within editors and chat apps.
Developer Workflows
Use Glean context in IDEs (e.g., Cursor, VS Code) for debugging, PR reviews, and code navigation.
Contextual Q&A
Run Glean Search and Chat inside hosts like Claude Desktop and ChatGPT to answer work-specific questions.
Supported Hosts
The following hosts are supported for connecting to Glean MCP server.
Admin-managed configuration
ChatGPT
Admin-managed
Claude for Teams/Enterprise
Admin-managed
Microsoft Copilot Studio
Admin-managed
End-user configuration
Claude Code
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Claude Code • Documentation
Claude Desktop
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Claude Desktop • Documentation
Codex
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Codex • Documentation
Cursor
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Cursor • Documentation
Goose
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Goose • Documentation
Visual Studio Code
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Visual Studio Code • Documentation
Windsurf
End-user install
Navigate to Settings → Install → MCP Configurator and select Windsurf • Documentation
MCP Configurator
Users can access the MCP Configurator for host-specific setup instructions:
Access the MCP Configurator
The MCP Configurator provides tailored connection instructions, configuration snippets, and OAuth setup for each supported host application.
To access: Select your profile icon → Your settings → Install tab → MCP Configurator section
Using Tools Effectively
LLMs choose tools based on your prompt and the server's tool schema. To improve tool selection across hosts:
- State the data or action you want explicitly (e.g., "search Glean for …", "fetch the document …").
- Reference tool-friendly inputs like document links or IDs when you have them.
- Ask the assistant to explain which tool it plans to use when debugging behavior.
Authentication
MCP servers support the following authentication methods, in order of preference:
Glean OAuth Authorization Server
Recommended
Glean MCP server prefer using the Glean OAuth Authorization Server with the OAuth 2.1 Authorization Code flow and PKCE. This supports:
- Dynamic client registration (DCR) for MCP hosts that discover and register with Glean at runtime.
- Static OAuth clients that admins create for specific integrations or external MCP servers when DCR is not available.
MCP hosts authenticate users through your existing SSO (Google, Entra ID, Okta, etc.), then receive OAuth tokens from Glean for secure API access.
This method requires the Glean OAuth Authorization Server to be enabled.
Glean API Tokens
Fallback
User-scoped Client API tokens can be used when the MCP host doesn't support OAuth or for testing purposes.
Requires scopes: MCP, AGENT, SEARCH, CHAT, DOCUMENTS, TOOLS, and ENTITIES.
Pricing
This feature is subject to usage-based pricing and these supplemental FlexCredit terms.
Usage Metrics
Glean tracks anonymized adoption metrics including:
- Active user counts (daily, weekly, monthly)
- Host application breakdown
- Tool usage frequency
To view your metrics, contact your Glean account team.
Technical Support
- Beta: Support via Developer Community group in Gleaniverse
- GA: Support via standard Glean support channels
Security and Privacy
User Session Management. Your Admin can continue to sign a user out of all sessions — including those from MCP host applications — via the Glean Admin UI.
Privacy and Data Protection. Remote MCP Servers inherit Glean platform privacy guarantees and are covered under Glean's Data Processing Addendum (DPA). All queries enforce user permissions via Glean's Knowledge Graph.
For a detailed security overview covering deployment, authentication, authorization, and monitoring, see MCP Security.
Resources
- Admin setup overview: Setting up Glean MCP server
- Managed installs:
- Troubleshooting: MCP Connectivity
- OAuth configuration and token lifecycle: Glean OAuth Authorization Server