Pick your connection method: Web vs local

Which way to connect depends on which AI tool you use — web tools go OAuth, local tools go stdio.

Two paths

Web (OAuth)

• For: claude.ai, ChatGPT (web)
• Setup: add "Custom MCP server" with URL https://mcp.slima.ai/mcp
• Auth: OAuth redirect to Slima sign-in → authorize
• Doesn't need: local software, token, npm

See: Connect from Claude.ai · Connect from ChatGPT

Local (stdio)

• For: Claude Desktop, Cursor, Gemini CLI, VS Code
• Setup: npx -y slima-mcp@0, put token in config
• Auth: API token (set once, long-lived)
• Needs: node.js

See: Claude Desktop · Cursor · Gemini CLI · VS Code

How to pick

Your AI tool decides — usually no choice:

Tool	Use
claude.ai	Web
ChatGPT web	Web
Claude Desktop	stdio
Cursor	stdio
Gemini CLI	stdio
VS Code MCP	stdio

If a tool supports both (rare) — Web is simpler, stdio is more flexible.

Security model

Web OAuth

• Reauthorize via OAuth each time
• Slima stores tokens in Cloudflare KV + PKCE
• Revoke from Authorized apps

Local stdio

• Token issued once, stored at ~/.slima/credentials.json (chmod 600)
• Revoke from Account → API tokens
• Suited for stable long-running connections

Related

• What Slima MCP is
• Get your API token