Connect Your Agent

New Worktables offer agent setup during the first run. You can connect several agents there, continue without one, or return to Settings → Agents later. The available methods match the current deployment and how each agent runs.

Worktable speaks MCP. Coding agents and AI apps use the same workspace tools, subject to the access granted to each connection. Always-on participants use the conversation layer to receive Worktable threads when their normal chat window is not open.

Coding agents

Local or self-hosted Worktable

The quickest same-machine setup is:

worktable mcp setup

Worktable detects and configures supported clients. To choose one explicitly:

worktable mcp setup <client>

Connector-installable IDs are claude-code, codex, cursor, vscode, and opencode. Goose uses a paste-ready manual snippet:

worktable mcp print-config goose

To connect an agent on another machine, open Connect an agent in Settings and generate the one-line command, or run worktable agent invite on the Worktable host. The command configures the selected clients and verifies the connection. Remote access covers the network setup.

Worktable Cloud

Open Connect an agent, choose a client or automatic detection, and run the displayed command on the computer where the agent lives. It writes the Cloud MCP endpoint without downloading a Worktable token. The client opens the browser-based OAuth approval on first use.

Use Manual install when you prefer to edit the provider configuration yourself. Cloud snippets remain tokenless; the client discovers OAuth from the server.

Always-on agents

Open Always-on agents to connect OpenClaw as a durable participant. Install the Worktable plugin from ClawHub:

openclaw plugins install clawhub:@worktable/openclaw

For local or self-hosted Worktable, enter a participant name and generate the single-use OpenClaw command in Settings. For Worktable Cloud, run the displayed Agent Registration command; it uses an interactive claim rather than a reusable API key.

OpenClaw connects to the whole Worktable. General conversations can live at the Worktable level, while Space conversations retain their Space context. Its default Cloud access is limited to conversations. See Worktable and Space threads.

Official ChatGPT plugin

Install the official Worktable plugin from ChatGPT to connect a Worktable Cloud workspace through OAuth. The plugin can search Worktable Docs, HTML Docs, and Records as ChatGPT Company Knowledge and also exposes the fuller Worktable surface for creating Docs, interactive HTML Docs, Records, annotations, and threads.

In ChatGPT, Company Knowledge is the standard read path for searching a connected service. Worktable implements it with a search tool that returns matching item IDs and links, and a fetch tool that reads the selected document or Record. It does not replace Worktable’s other tools; those remain available when ChatGPT needs to build or change workspace artifacts.

ChatGPT can register as a Worktable thread participant, read messages addressed to it, and reply while you are actively using the plugin. Addressed messages stay queued in Worktable between ChatGPT conversations. Ask ChatGPT to check its Worktable messages to receive them. Use OpenClaw when a participant must remain connected and process deliveries without a person invoking it.

Desktop and web AI apps

Local or self-hosted Worktable

Open Desktop apps in Settings.

• Claude Desktop on macOS: download the Worktable extension, open the .mcpb, and approve it in Claude. Paste the endpoint shown by Worktable. A literal same-machine loopback connection needs no token; a protected or network-reachable server also needs the one-time token Settings offers.
• ChatGPT desktop: add the displayed endpoint as a Streamable HTTP MCP server. ChatGPT desktop, Codex CLI, and the Codex IDE extension can share the same Codex MCP configuration, so check the existing entry before adding a duplicate.

A browser-based provider cannot reach a literal localhost server on another machine. Use a protected self-hosted endpoint or Worktable Cloud when the provider requires a public remote MCP server.

Worktable Desktop must remain running while an AI app uses a Desktop-owned local endpoint. Closing the Desktop window keeps it available; quitting stops it. An attached managed service remains available independently.

Worktable Cloud

Open Desktop and web apps and copy the remote MCP endpoint into a provider that supports remote MCP. Claude or ChatGPT opens WorkOS for approval and keeps the resulting OAuth grant. Provider availability can depend on the provider’s plan and workspace policy.

This manual connection remains useful for provider-native MCP clients. In ChatGPT, prefer the official Worktable plugin because it also supplies the Worktable skills and Company Knowledge contract.

Manual configuration

The default CLI-local Streamable HTTP endpoint is:

http://localhost:7480/mcp

worktable mcp print-config <client> prints the supported configuration. For apps that use stdio instead of HTTP:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "worktable": {
      "command": "worktable",
      "args": ["mcp", "stdio"]
    }
  }
}

A literal loopback install can be tokenless. Network-reachable and public self-hosted endpoints require a bearer. Worktable Cloud uses OAuth instead of local Worktable tokens. The MCP reference has the complete connection and authentication details.

Verify and repair

For local connector-managed clients:

worktable mcp status
worktable mcp test
worktable mcp repair

To verify the connection, ask the agent to call worktable_discover with the state action. A response containing your spaces confirms that it can reach the workspace.

Introduce the workspace

Worktable’s MCP metadata is factual and provider-neutral. It describes the private content types and callable capabilities, but does not load workspace Docs as instructions. Clients that support Agent Skills can install the optional Worktable skill suite separately.

If you want a short project-level reminder without installing skills, use:

You have a Worktable workspace. Use its MCP tools when I ask you to find,
create, or update Worktable content.

The agent overview explains the neutral MCP contract and optional workflow skills.