Connect an MCP server in one click

Most integrations start at a settings page and a form. Tarsk starts with a sentence. Ask for Linear issues in a chat and a card appears with the server name and its address, plus Connect, Info and Dismiss. One click, and the tools arrive with your next message.

What the card shows

The card names the server and the exact thing you approve: a remote address, or the command a local server runs on this machine. A local entry adds “Runs on this machine.” and prints the whole command line. There is no form to fill in.

• Connect starts the attempt.
• Info opens the server’s documentation in your browser.
• Dismiss ends it, and the agent will not offer that server again in the same turn.

If your words match several entries in the directory, Tarsk asks which one you meant, then shows a card for the answer. If nothing matches, the agent asks for the server address, or sends you to Settings → Integrations for a server that needs a pasted token.

The check comes before the save

Clicking Connect does not write configuration yet. Tarsk opens a short session with the server and asks which tools it offers. A remote server gets thirty seconds to answer. A local one gets two minutes, because its first run may download a package.

Tarsk saves a server only when it answers. The card then reports “Connected to Linear” and the number of tools available on your next message. The tool set is fixed for the run you are in, so the new tools arrive on your next message.

Dismiss stays enabled while the attempt runs, and it cancels the attempt. A server that hangs does not leave you with a dead card.

Signing in

Many servers ask for authorization. The check reports that, and Tarsk opens the server’s own sign-in page in your system browser. You approve there, the browser lands on a page that says “Connected to Tarsk”, and you close the window.

The return trip uses a listener on your own machine and a free local port, so the sign-in never passes through a Tarsk server. An abandoned sign-in, or a browser that cannot come back, times out after five minutes. Try again from the same card and Tarsk reuses its own listener instead of reporting the port as taken.

Tarsk signs in only when the server asks. A token it already stored still works, so a reconnect does not open a browser.

What a failed connect leaves behind

Two outcomes, and the card says which one you got:

• Nothing was written. The check never got an answer, so the project has no new entry. The card shows the reason and a Try again button.
• The check passed, then the save failed. The entry exists but nothing verified it. The card says “Saved, but the connection failed.” and the agent tells you the same, with a pointer to Settings → Integrations.

The second case matters on a shared project. A server entry belongs to the project, so a teammate who opens it sees the same configuration.

Settings keeps its own order

Settings → Integrations saves first and discovers tools after. That order is deliberate. Adding a server that is offline, or one that is not running yet, is a normal thing to do in a config editor, and you have a form there to fix a typo.

The chat card gives you no form. If it saved a dead endpoint, the entry would sit in a shared project with nothing to correct it. So chat verifies first, and Settings keeps the order it has.

Names settle before sign-in

Tarsk files a server’s sign-in under the server’s name. When that name is taken in the project, the card asks for another one before the sign-in starts. A rename afterwards would strand the token you just earned.

Limits worth knowing

• Chat cannot connect a server that needs a pasted token. Use Settings → Integrations for those, or ask the server’s owner for OAuth.
• The directory is fixed. Tarsk suggests servers from the list that ships with the app, and the agent cannot invent an endpoint or a local command for you to approve. You can paste a URL you trust.
• A pasted URL must not carry credentials. Use OAuth, or configure credentials in Settings.
• On a surface that cannot draw the card, Tarsk asks the same question with plain Connect and Dismiss options.

Try it

• Ask for a service you use, such as “connect Linear”, and watch the card.
• Click Info before Connect on a server you do not recognize.
• Connect a server, then find the same entry in Settings → Integrations.

Download Tarsk or read the documentation.