This article walks through connecting your AI agent to Rival MCP.
Before you start
You'll need:
A Rival account with the Research Domain Admin role on at least one research domain. Without it, the server will connect but refuse every request
Rival MCP enabled for your account. This is currently rolled out per-account. Contact your Customer Success representative to request access; access requires a signed statement of work, and once that's in place your CS team will submit a provisioning request to enable it
An AI agent or client that supports remote MCP servers over streamable HTTP with OAuth 2.1
How connecting works
Every client follows the same basic pattern, whatever the specific menus look like:
Point the client at the Rival MCP server URL
https://mcp.rivaltech.io/mcpComplete an OAuth sign-in in your browser using your Rival login
Enable the connector/tool for the conversation you want to use it in
Below are example connection setups using Claude and OpenAI, reflecting each product's settings as of when we last tested this. Those companies can change their menus or wording at any time, so if a step doesn't match what you see, reach out to your Customer Success representative and we'll help you sort it out.
If you're on an enterprise account, your organization may restrict who can add connectors themselves. In that case, you won't be able to complete the setup steps below on your own. Pass this article to your IT team so they can add and enable the Rival connector at the org level. Once that's done, you'll see it available and can connect and authenticate as usual.
Connecting from Claude
Claude.ai, Claude Desktop, or Claude Cowork:
Go to Settings > Connectors
Click Add connector (or the + button), then Add custom connector
Name it (e.g. "Rival") and paste the server URL above
Click Add, then find it in your connector list and click Connect to sign in with your Rival account
In a chat, use the + menu (or "Add connectors") to turn it on for that conversation
Claude Cowork uses the same Connectors setup as claude.ai and Claude Desktop — once added, it's available as a tool there too.
If your organization is on a Claude Team or Enterprise plan, an Owner or Primary Owner typically needs to add the connector at the organization level first, under Organization Settings > Connectors, before individual members can connect to it.
Claude Code (CLI):
claude mcp add --transport http --scope user rival-mcp https://mcp.rivaltech.io/mcp
Then run /mcp, select rival-mcp, and choose Authenticate to complete the browser sign-in.
Connecting from OpenAI (ChatGPT)
ChatGPT connects to remote MCP servers as custom connectors, gated behind Developer Mode. This requires a Plus, Pro, Team, Enterprise, or Edu plan.
In ChatGPT, go to Settings > Apps (some plans show this as Connectors)
Open Advanced settings and turn on Developer Mode — this is a one-time setup per account, and on a workspace plan your admin may need to enable it first
Click Create (or Add custom connector / Advanced > Add MCP server, depending on your plan)
Name it (e.g. "Rival"), paste the server URL above, and choose OAuth as the authentication method
Save the connector, then complete the browser sign-in with your Rival login
In a chat, open the Developer Mode tool picker (or "Connected apps") and enable the Rival connector for that conversation
Connecting other MCP-compatible clients
Rival MCP works with any client that supports remote MCP servers, this includes tools like Cursor, VS Code, Cline, Windsurf, and Goose, in addition to Claude. Most of these offer an "Add server" or "Add custom connector" dialog where you paste the URL above, or read it from a config file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"rival-mcp": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.rivaltech.io/mcp"
}
}
}Some clients use "transport": "http" instead of "type", and a few nest servers differently — check your specific client's MCP documentation for exact field names. For a client that only supports local (stdio) servers, bridge to Rival MCP with mcp-remote:
{
"mcpServers": {
"rival-mcp": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.rivaltech.io/mcp"]
}
}
}After adding the server in any client, start the connection and complete the browser sign-in with your Rival login.
Running in a sandboxed or cloud agent
Some agent environments, including Claude Cowork, and Claude Desktop or claude.ai when code execution is enabled, run in a cloud sandbox that blocks outbound network access by default. This doesn't affect querying data, but it does affect exports: export tools don't return rows inline, they return a short download link, and fetching that link fails with a 403 until the sandbox's outbound network access allows it.
To allow exports to be downloaded you will need to add to the whitelist/allowlist the connection domain plus every regional download domain that applies to you:
mcp.rivaltech.io(the connection domain)mcp.us1.rivaltech.io(US export downloads)mcp.ca1.rivaltech.io(Canada export downloads)mcp.eu1.rivaltech.io(EU export downloads)
If you hit this, an admin needs to add both domains to the sandbox's network allowlist (in Claude, under Organization settings > Capabilities > Code execution > Network access), then start a new session, an already-open conversation won't pick up the change. Other agent platforms have their own egress-allowlist setting; add the same hosts there.
Permissions and data access
Rival MCP doesn't have its own separate permission system, access is entirely inherited from your Rival login and requires the Research Domain Admin role on the domains you want to work with. Whatever domains and studies your account can see in Rival (as a domain admin), your connected agent can see too, and nothing more.
Troubleshooting
Symptom | Cause and fix |
| Your token expired, re-authenticate through your client. |
Connected, but no tools listed | Tool access is enabled per account by feature flag. This is only turned on after your SOW is signed and your CS team's provisioning request is processed. Confirm with your Customer Success representative that both steps are complete. |
"No research domains" / every call refused | Your Rival account doesn't have the Research Domain Admin role on any domain. |
Export download fails with a | Your agent's sandbox blocks outbound network access and the export-download domain hasn't been allowlisted.
An admin needs to add to the allowlist the connection domain plus every regional download domain that applies to you:
|
Cannot connect at all | Check the service status directly: |