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Getting started

This guide shows you how to connect an MCP client to renderdesk and publish your first artifact.

Before you start

You need a renderdesk account. If you do not have one, ask your renderdesk administrator to create one for you.

The examples below use https://renderdesk.example.com as a placeholder — replace it with your own instance's URL wherever it appears.

renderdesk supports two ways to connect a client:

  • A personal token. Use this for command-line agents such as Claude Code and OpenCode. You create the token once in the dashboard and paste it into your client's configuration.
  • OAuth. Use this for browser-based clients such as Claude on the web and ChatGPT. You add the connector URL and the client walks you through login and approval.

Both methods give the client the same set of tools. Neither method gives the client any dashboard-only capability, such as deleting an artifact or sharing one with another user.

Step 1: create a personal token

Skip this step if you plan to connect with OAuth instead.

  1. Log in to the renderdesk dashboard.
  2. Open Connections.
  3. In the Label field, enter a name for this client, such as laptop or opencode.
  4. Select Create token.
  5. Copy the token. renderdesk shows it only once.

A personal token expires 90 days after you create it. When it expires, create a new one and update your client's configuration.

Step 2: connect your client

Claude Code

Run this command, with your token in place of YOUR_TOKEN:

claude mcp add --transport http renderdesk https://renderdesk.example.com/mcp --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

OpenCode

For a personal token, run:

opencode mcp add renderdesk --url https://renderdesk.example.com/mcp --header "Authorization=Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"

For OAuth instead, add the server without a token, then authenticate:

opencode mcp add renderdesk --url https://renderdesk.example.com/mcp
opencode mcp auth renderdesk

The second command opens your browser to a login and approval page.

Claude on the web, ChatGPT, and other browser-based clients

  1. In your client, add a new connector or custom MCP server.
  2. Enter this URL: https://renderdesk.example.com/mcp.
  3. Follow the prompts to log in to renderdesk and approve the connection.

renderdesk issues an access token that expires after one hour and refreshes automatically while your client stays connected.

Step 3: publish your first artifact

Ask your agent to publish an artifact. For example:

Publish an HTML page that says "Hello, renderdesk" as an artifact.

The agent calls the publish_artifact tool and returns a URL such as https://renderdesk.example.com/a/<id>. Open the URL to view the artifact.

What counts as one connection

Each token or OAuth login creates one connection. A connection owns only the artifacts it publishes. If you connect the same client again with a new token, it starts as an empty connection and cannot see artifacts from your other connections. Your dashboard login, by contrast, shows every artifact from every connection you own.

Limits

Every connection has these default limits:

  • 200 artifacts per connection.
  • 2,000,000 bytes (about 2 MB) per artifact.
  • 50,000,000 bytes (about 50 MB) total per connection.

If a client hits a limit, publish_artifact or update_artifact returns a quota_exceeded error. Delete an old artifact from the dashboard to free up room, or ask your administrator to raise the limit.

Next steps