Auto-Configure

One command to configure Claude Desktop, VS Code, and Cursor to use Nella — no manual JSON editing.

Setting up MCP clients manually means editing JSON config files, finding the right paths, creating API keys, and hoping you didn’t miss a comma. nella connect does all of that in one command.

Quick Start

# Login first (opens browser)
nella auth login

# Auto-configure everything
nella connect

That’s it. Claude Desktop and VS Code are now connected to Nella’s hosted MCP server.

What It Does

Checks authentication — Verifies you’re logged in (or uses a provided API key)
Creates an API key — If logged in with no key, auto-provisions a nella_ prefixed API key
Tests server health — Pings the server to confirm it’s reachable
Writes client configs — Updates Claude Desktop and/or VS Code settings with MCP server configuration
Reports status — Shows success/failure per client

Commands

`nella connect`

# Auto-configure all detected clients
nella connect

# Configure with an existing API key
nella connect --api-key nella_your_key_here

# Only configure Claude Desktop
nella connect --client claude

# Only configure VS Code
nella connect --client vscode

# Connect to a custom server (e.g., self-hosted)
nella connect --server-url http://localhost:3847/mcp --api-key nella_your_key

Options:

Option	Short	Default	Description
`--api-key`	`-k`	Auto-created	API key (must start with `nella_`)
`--server-url`	`-u`	`https://mcp.getnella.dev/mcp`	MCP server URL
`--client`	—	`all`	Target: `claude`, `vscode`, or `all`

`nella auth login`

Opens your browser to authenticate via your Nella account:

nella auth login

# Flow:
# 1. Opens browser → app.getnella.dev/auth/cli
# 2. Sign in with your account
# 3. CLI receives session tokens via local redirect
# 4. Session saved to ~/.nella/auth.json

`nella auth logout`

nella auth logout
# ✓ Logged out — credentials removed

`nella auth status`

nella auth status
# ✓ Authenticated
#   Email:   you@example.com
#   User ID: abc-123-...
#   Expires: 2/10/2026, 3:00:00 PM

Client Configuration

Claude Desktop

nella connect --client claude writes to:

macOS/Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nella": {
      "url": "https://mcp.getnella.dev/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer nella_your_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

VS Code / Cursor

nella connect --client vscode writes to your VS Code MCP settings:

{
  "mcp": {
    "servers": {
      "nella": {
        "url": "https://mcp.getnella.dev/mcp",
        "headers": {
          "Authorization": "Bearer nella_your_key_here"
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

Local MCP (stdio)

For local, non-hosted usage without an API key, use nella mcp instead:

# Start local MCP server for a project
nella mcp --workspace /path/to/project

Add to Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "nella": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@getnella/mcp", "--workspace", "/path/to/project"]
    }
  }
}

Session Storage

Authentication tokens are stored at ~/.nella/auth.json:

{
  "accessToken": "eyJ...",
  "refreshToken": "abc...",
  "expiresAt": "2026-02-10T15:00:00Z",
  "user": {
    "id": "abc-123",
    "email": "you@example.com"
  }
}

Tip

Run nella auth status to check if your session is still valid. Tokens are automatically refreshed when possible.

Self-Hosted

If you’re running your own Nella server with nella serve, point connect to your server:

nella serve --port 8080  # Start your server

nella connect \
  --server-url http://localhost:8080/mcp \
  --api-key nella_your_self_hosted_key

See REST API for server configuration and environment variables.