Where you can connect: apps, mobile, CLIs and IDEs

Every client reaches Popcorn Editor at the same address, your app origin plus /mcp/popcorn (the exact URL is shown under Settings → Your agent access). What differs is how each one authenticates, where you set it up, and whether it works on a phone. This page is the map; the per-client pages have the steps.

Client	How it connects	Where you set it up	On mobile
Claude (web, desktop, mobile)	OAuth connector	Customize → Connectors	Yes, once added elsewhere
Claude Code (terminal)	Agent token or OAuth	claude mcp add	Not applicable
ChatGPT	OAuth connector, developer mode only	ChatGPT on the web	No
VS Code, Cursor	Agent token in a config file	Project or user config	Not applicable
Gemini CLI	Agent token in settings.json	Local config	Not applicable
Anything else that speaks MCP	Agent token, or OAuth if supported	Its own config	Depends on the client

Two connection styles#

Everything on that list falls into one of two buckets.

OAuth connectors are for app-style clients. You paste the URL, the app sends you to a Popcorn sign-in page, you click Authorize, and no credential ever passes through your hands. Access is read and write, tokens last a day and refresh silently for up to a month, and you revoke it by removing the connector in the AI app.

Agent tokens are for command-line tools and editors. You mint a bearer token under Settings → Your agent access, choose Read & write or Read only, and paste it into the client's config as an Authorization header. It is shown once and revocable anytime.

Full comparison: Tokens & security.

Claude: set it up once, use it everywhere#

Claude brokers custom connectors through your account rather than your device, so a connector you add on the web or in the desktop app is available in every Claude client you sign into, including the mobile apps.

• On your own account: open Customize → Connectors, click +, then Add custom connector.
• On a Team or Enterprise plan: an owner adds the connector once under Organization settings → Connectors. After that, members open Customize → Connectors and click Connect.
• In a conversation: connectors are not on by default in every chat. Use the + button in the composer and pick your Popcorn connector for that conversation.
• Claude Code is the exception: it is a terminal client, so it takes either an agent token on the command line or an interactive OAuth sign-in from inside the tool.

Steps for all of them: Connect Claude.

ChatGPT: developer mode, on the web#

ChatGPT is the most constrained of the mainstream clients, and it is worth knowing before you start.

• Developer mode is the only route. ChatGPT's ready-made connector directory is a curated list. Adding your own MCP server, which is what Popcorn is, only becomes possible once developer mode is switched on in advanced settings.
• It is a web feature. You cannot add or use a custom connector from the ChatGPT mobile app. Set it up and use it in a browser.
• It needs a paid ChatGPT plan, and on Team or Enterprise plans an administrator can disable developer mode or restrict which connectors are allowed. If the toggle is missing, that is usually why.
• ChatGPT will warn you that a custom connector can read and write data. That warning is expected here: Popcorn's connection is how the assistant creates and edits your designs. What it can actually touch is covered in Is it safe to connect an AI agent?.

Steps: Connect ChatGPT.

CLIs and editors: use an agent token#

Terminal agents and IDE extensions authenticate with a bearer token rather than a browser sign-in. Mint one under Settings → Your agent access and put it in the client's config as an Authorization header.

This is a recommendation, not just a convention. Popcorn only accepts browser sign-ins that come back to a known web address, and desktop editors typically complete OAuth through a private handler on your machine instead. A token is the path that works today for Cursor, VS Code and similar tools.

• VS Code stores servers in .vscode/mcp.json for a project, or in your user profile for every project. The MCP: Add Server command in the command palette writes either one for you.
• Cursor uses .cursor/mcp.json in the project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json globally.
• Gemini CLI uses its own settings.json.
• Claude Code can use a token in one command, or sign in interactively.

Steps: Connect other clients, Connect Gemini CLI, Connect Claude.

Clients that only speak stdio#

Some older clients can only launch a local program, not call a remote server. Bridge those with mcp-remote, which runs locally and forwards to Popcorn over HTTP. The command is in Connect other clients.

A note on moving targets#

Claude and ChatGPT both rearrange these settings from time to time, and plan requirements change. The names in this page are the concepts to look for: a custom connector, a server URL, developer mode, an authorization step. If a menu path here does not match what you see, the setting has usually just moved. Your Popcorn side never changes: one URL, and either a browser sign-in or a bearer token.

Next steps#

• Is it safe to connect an AI agent?
• Overview for what agents can do once connected.
• Make print-ready designs by chatting with ChatGPT or Claude for a worked example.