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Agent-ready apps

Let your users connect Zed to your app

Agent-ready apps: make the app you build with the SDK ready for Zed. Your users add your app's MCP server to Zed, sign in on your hosted page and approve it, and Zed acts as them, never as more.

How your users add your app to Zed

Give your users your app's MCP address. npx buildbase agent install --url <your MCP address> prints the setup for each AI tool, Zed included, with your address filled in.

  1. In Zed, your user adds a remote MCP server: Settings > AI > MCP Servers > Add Server > Add Remote Server. They use your app's MCP address, https://app.example.com/api/mcp in these examples, or the command or config below.
  2. Sign in. With no Authorization header set, Zed runs the standard MCP sign-in and asks you to sign in.
  3. Your hosted sign-in page opens. Your user signs in and approves the consent screen, which names Zed and what it asks for.
  4. Zed can now use your tools, as that user and with that user's permissions.
settings.jsonJSON
{
  "context_servers": {
    "acme": {
      "url": "https://app.example.com/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

The plan it needs

Zed's MCP page does not name a plan.

How sign-in looks in Zed

With no Authorization header set, Zed runs the standard MCP sign-in and asks you to sign in.

What is different in Zed

  • Zed runs on your user's own computer, so it reaches any address that computer can, including a development server while you test.
  • Your server's built-in tools are read-only until you allow changes. agent.tool_permissions sets confirm, allow or deny, by default or per tool, as mcp:<server>:<tool>.

If it does not work in Zed

Zed cannot register or sign in
Turn on Let agents register themselves, with a base client, in the console under Authentication, then Agent readiness. Zed registers its own client the first time it connects.
Zed does not connect
A green dot next to the server means it is active; anything else, check its state in the agent settings.
Check your server the way Zed will
Run npx buildbase agent doctor --url <your MCP address>. It walks the first contact a client makes (the sign-in challenge, the metadata, redirects, a stable tool list) and exits 1 when a check fails.

Frequently Asked Questions

Which Zed plan do your users need?

Zed's MCP page does not name a plan.

Does my MCP server need to be public for Zed?

No. Zed runs on your user's computer, so it reaches what that computer reaches. Your users still need an address they can open, and production should be public HTTPS.

Can Zed change data in my app?

Only through tools you allow, and only as the user who connected it. The built-in tools are read-only by default, and a tool that needs extra scopes is hidden until the user grants them.

Where next