DOCUMENTATION

# Use Clinical Terminal in Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork and the Claude apps can query the Clinical Terminal graph directly — vendors, products, people, market signals, and hospital relationships — through a custom connector. This is the click-through version of our [MCP setup guide](/docs/mcp/): no terminal, no config files, about three minutes.

## Step by step

Guide verified end-to-end against the Claude apps · August 2026

Step 1 — Get an API key

Sign in at [app.clinicalterminal.com](https://app.clinicalterminal.com) and open **Settings → MCP Access**, then click **Create key**. The full `ct_live_…` key is shown **once** — copy it somewhere safe. MCP access is included with the **Landscape** subscription.

![Clinical Terminal MCP Access panel showing an active API key, monthly usage, and per-client setup tabs](/docs/claude-cowork/step-1-mcp-access.png)

Clinical Terminal → Settings → MCP Access

Step 2 — Open Claude's connector settings

In the Claude desktop app or on claude.ai, open **Settings → Connectors** (the same Connectors list powers Cowork, chat, and Claude Code).

![Claude settings with the Connectors section open — connector list, status checks, and the Add button top right](/docs/claude-cowork/step-2-connectors.png)

Claude → Settings → Connectors

Step 3 — Add the custom connector

Click **Add** and choose the custom connector option. Name it **Clinical Terminal** and paste the server URL:

Server URLCopy

```
https://clinical-terminal-mcp-687925922613.us-central1.run.app/mcp
```

![Claude's Add custom connector dialog with the name Clinical Terminal and the server URL filled in](/docs/claude-cowork/step-3-add-connector.png)

Add custom connector — name + server URL

Hit **Continue**. On the authentication screen that follows, two settings matter:

1. Under **Authentication**, choose **None** — Claude's own description of that option (“for servers that use an API key instead of OAuth”) is exactly our case. **“Always required” comes preselected with a “Detected” badge** because the server rejects anonymous probes — leave it selected and Claude will walk you into an OAuth sign-in the server doesn't offer.
2. Under **Request headers**, click **Add header**, pick `api-key` from the header dropdown, and paste your full key as the value — no prefix, exactly as it was shown at creation (Claude stores it securely and never shows it again). Then hit **Add**:

Header valueCopy

```
ct_live_<your_key>
```

![Claude's connector authentication screen configured for Clinical Terminal: Authentication set to None, and a Request headers row with api-key selected and a masked key value](/docs/claude-cowork/step-3b-authentication.png)

The finished configuration — Authentication: None + api-key header

Step 4 — Connect, then verify it in Cowork

After adding, Claude shows the connector's page with *“You are not connected to Clinical Terminal yet”* — click **Connect**. With authentication set to None there is no sign-in step; it should flip to connected immediately. Then start a Cowork session (or a chat), make sure the Clinical Terminal connector is enabled in the tools menu, and ask a real question: *“Using Clinical Terminal, which vendors work in denials management?”* You should see Claude call the connector and come back with named vendors.

![Claude answering the denials-management question with the Clinical Terminal integration: segment routing and a ranked vendor table with customer edges and signal counts](/docs/claude-cowork/step-4-cowork-verify.png)

A live answer — 25 vendors routed through the Denials Management segment

Step 5 — Tool permissions (recommended)

Every tool defaults to **Needs approval**, which pauses a Cowork session to ask before each call. On the connector's page, set **Other tools → Always allow** — every research tool is read-only, so this is safe. The one exception worth keeping gated: **Publish comparison** creates a shareable public page, so leave it on Needs approval.

![The connector's tool permissions screen with the dropdown open showing Always allow, Needs approval, Blocked, and Custom options](/docs/claude-cowork/step-5-tool-permissions.png)

Tool permissions — Always allow for read-only tools

## Troubleshooting

- **401** — The Authorization header never reached the server — re-check the Request headers field on the connector.
- **403** — Invalid or revoked key, or over the monthly quota (resets on the 1st).
- **404 “Unknown or expired session”** — The server-side session was lost (instance recycled). Disconnect and reconnect the connector, or just retry — a compliant client re-initializes on its own.
- **400 “No session”** — The client skipped initialization. Disconnect and reconnect the connector.
- **429** — Per-minute rate limit — wait a few seconds and retry.
- **Claude shows an OAuth or sign-in prompt, or “Couldn't reach Clinical Terminal”** — the usual cause: the connector's Authentication setting is still on the preselected “Always required (Detected)”, or the request header isn't set as `api-key` with your key as the value. Edit the connector and re-check both against Step 3 (the value must be re-entered — Claude never redisplays it). As a fallback, the [Claude Code or generic setup](/docs/mcp/) uses the same key.

Server status: [clinical-terminal-mcp-687925922613.us-central1.run.app/health](https://clinical-terminal-mcp-687925922613.us-central1.run.app/health) answers unauthenticated with the running version. Questions: <agent@clinicalterminal.com>.

[← Back to Clinical Terminal](/)