# MCP server

> Connect Claude, Cursor, VS Code and other AI assistants to Podzone with your API key.

Podzone's MCP server lets an AI assistant that speaks the [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) search podcasts, read transcripts and manage alerts for you. Ask in plain language — "what have podcasts said about Acme this month?" — and the assistant calls Podzone's tools to answer.

The server is at:

```
https://api.podzone.fm/mcp
```

It authenticates with a Podzone API key, sent as an `Authorization: Bearer pzk_live_...` header. Create one on the app's [API keys](https://app.podzone.fm/api-keys) page; [Authentication](https://podzone.fm/docs/authentication) explains the difference between team and account keys.

## Claude Code

Add the server once, then start `claude` and ask in plain language. `/mcp` shows whether it is connected.

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http podzone https://api.podzone.fm/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer pzk_live_..."
```

## Claude on the web and desktop

Open **Settings > Connectors** and choose **Add custom connector**. Enter `https://api.podzone.fm/mcp` as the server URL, choose token authentication rather than signing in with OAuth, and add an `Authorization` header whose value is `Bearer pzk_live_...` — including `Bearer` and the space.

The Podzone tools are usually available in a chat straight away. If not, turn the connector on for that chat from its **+** menu.

## Cursor

Add the server to `.cursor/mcp.json` in your project, or to `~/.cursor/mcp.json` for every project:

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "podzone": {
      "url": "https://api.podzone.fm/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer pzk_live_..." }
    }
  }
}
```

## VS Code

Add the server to `.vscode/mcp.json` in your workspace:

```json
{
  "servers": {
    "podzone": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.podzone.fm/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer pzk_live_..." }
    }
  }
}
```

## Other clients

Any MCP client that connects to a remote server over HTTP and lets you set the `Authorization` header works the same way: Windsurf, the Claude API's MCP connector, and agent frameworks built on the MCP SDKs among them. Clients that only offer OAuth sign-in, such as ChatGPT, cannot connect yet.

## Tools

| Tool | What it does | Effect |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `search_episodes` | Search episodes | Reads only |
| `get_episode` | Get an episode | Reads only |
| `find_in_transcript` | Find words in a transcript | Reads only |
| `read_transcript` | Read a transcript | Reads only |
| `search_podcasts` | Search podcasts | Reads only |
| `get_podcast` | Get a podcast | Reads only |
| `list_podcast_episodes` | List a podcast's episodes | Reads only |
| `list_alerts` | List alerts | Reads only |
| `get_alert` | Get an alert | Reads only |
| `list_alert_matches` | List an alert's matches | Reads only |
| `get_alert_match` | Get an alert match | Reads only |
| `create_alert` | Create an alert | Changes data |
| `update_alert` | Update an alert | Changes data |
| `whoami` | Describe this API key | Reads only |
| `list_teams` | List teams | Reads only |
| `list_team_members` | List a team's members | Reads only |

No tool deletes anything. Each tool calls one route of the [API](https://api.podzone.fm/api/v1/docs), so what a tool can see and do is what the key can see and do through the API.

## What it costs

Every tool call is one API request, counted against your account's limits exactly as if you had called the route yourself. Reading a transcript from its first page also counts as one of your plan's transcript downloads; later pages, and finding words in a transcript, do not.

With an account-scoped key, the tools that act for a team take a `team_id` argument in place of the `X-Podzone-Team` header. The assistant can find the ids with the `list_teams` tool.