Getting Started with MCP

What is MCP?

The MCP protocol is an open standard that allows AI assistants to securely call tools hosted by external servers. Graph Studio implements an MCP server that exposes a curated set of tools for interacting with your semantic graph data.

Prerequisites

• A running Altair Graph Studio server with MCP enabled
• An MCP-compatible AI client (e.g., Claude Desktop, ChatGPT with MCP plugins, Cursor, or a custom client)
• Valid Graph Studio user credentials

Connecting Your AI Client

Graph Studio supports two connection methods:

1. HTTP/SSE (Recommended)

Connect your AI client directly to the Graph Studio MCP HTTP endpoint.

Setting	Value
Authenticated Endpoint	https://<your-server>/mcp
Anonymous Endpoint	https://<your-server>/mcp-anon
Authentication	Any direct authentication method supported by the system (e.g., HTTP Basic, Kerberos, OAuth/OIDC tokens)

Claude Desktop Configuration (claude_desktop_config.json):

{ "mcpServers": { "graph-studio": { "url": "https://your-server.example.com/mcp", "auth": { "type": "basic", "username": "your-username", "password": "your-password" } } } }

VS Code Configuration (.vscode/mcp.json or User Settings):

{ "servers": { "graph-studio": { "type": "http", "url": "https://your-server.example.com/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Basic " } } } }

2. Stdio Proxy (for clients that only support stdio transport)

Graph Studio provides two stdio bridge options.

Option 1 - MCP Proxy (mcpproxy.exe):

{ "mcpServers": { "graph-studio": { "command": "C:\\path\\to\\mcpproxy.exe", "args": [ "--url", "https://your-server.example.com/mcp", "--auth", "Basic dXNlcm5hbWU6cGFzc3dvcmQ=" ] } } }

Option 2 - Graph Studio CLI (gs mcp):

{ "mcpServers": { "graph-studio": { "command": "gs", "args": [ "mcp", "--host", "your-server.example.com", "--port", "9080", "--user", "your-username" ] } } }

Use gs mcp when Graph Studio CLI is already installed. Use mcpproxy as a lightweight standalone alternative.