✦TL;DR

Connect your own MCP server to Atlan so agents can read the knowledge it serves, for sources Atlan doesn't connect to natively.

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Your AI can read this via Docs MCPcurl -fsSL "https://docs.atlan.com/install-docs-mcp" | bashConnect

Connect custom MCP server as knowledge source Private Preview

If your knowledge lives in a system Atlan doesn't connect to natively, you can connect any remote MCP server that serves it. Agents then read from that server the same way they read from GitHub or Confluence.

You can connect as many custom MCP servers as you need. Each one appears as its own source when you create an agent.

What you can connect

Atlan connects to remote MCP servers over Streamable HTTP and sends your API key as a bearer token. Any server that works that way can be a source. Examples:

Source	What agents can read	Credential
Glean	Content indexed in Glean that the key can access	Glean API key
Linear	Issues, projects, and documents in your Linear workspace	Linear API key
Snowflake	Documents stored in Cortex Search	Snowflake programmatic access token (PAT)
Databricks	Documents stored in Databricks AI Search (formerly Vector Search)	Databricks personal access token (PAT)

Some sources need setup on their side first. For Snowflake, create an MCP server object that includes your Cortex Search service as a tool, and make sure your network policies permit connections from Atlan. For warehouse sources like Snowflake and Databricks, create the token for a least-privileged role or user that can only read the content you want agents to see.

OAuth is in progress

Support for connection-level OAuth is being built. An admin authorizes the connection once and Atlan refreshes the token, so every agent run reads with the same access and results stay consistent. This brings sources that only accept OAuth, such as Notion, Zoom, and Gong.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, make sure you have:

• Permission to create integrations in Atlan. If you can't see Settings → Integrations, ask a workspace admin or raise a support request
• The URL of a remote MCP server that supports Streamable HTTP and that Atlan can reach over HTTPS. Servers that only run locally, or that need a custom header instead of a bearer token, aren't supported
• An API key or token for the server, if it requires one. Atlan sends it as a bearer token in the Authorization header

What agents can do with this source

An agent using a custom MCP server:

• Uses the tools the server offers, reading each tool's own description to decide which ones search and which ones read
• Works within the scope you set on the agent
• Cites each result with the link the server returns

Agents are instructed to only search and read, and to skip tools that change data on the server. That's guidance to the agent, not an enforced limit. The API key is the access boundary, so use a read-only key that can reach only what you want agents to see.

Connect it in Atlan

1. In your Atlan workspace, click Settings from the left sidebar.
2. Under Team, click Integrations.
3. Click + MCP Server.
4. Fill in the form:
   • Server name: how agents and run logs refer to this server, for example Internal wiki MCP.
   • Description (optional): what an agent can find on this server. Agents read this to decide whether the server is worth calling, so describe what it holds rather than what it is.
   • MCP server URL: the server's endpoint, for example https://mcp.your-org.com/mcp.
   • Authentication: API key (default) or None.
   • API key: shown only when Authentication is API key.
5. Click Connect.

Atlan connects to the server before storing anything, so a URL that isn't an MCP server or a key that's rejected fails here rather than in a later agent run. Once connected, the server appears as a card among the other integrations, showing how many tools it offers and when its credentials were last updated.

Use it in agent

Custom MCP servers are available as a source in the Business Graph Term Generator template.

1. Create a context agent from an agent template, or edit an existing one.
2. At the Sources and scope step, find the Custom MCP servers group and tick the servers you want the agent to read. Each server is listed by its name and description.
3. Optionally, describe what the agent needs to read on each server in its own Where should it look? box, for example the repositories, spaces, folders, or paths on that server.

info

Scope is a hint, not a filter. If your agent has a scope set for any source, give each custom server a scope too. A source with no scope may not be read when other sources are scoped.

Edit or remove server

On the server's card, click Edit server to change its name, description, URL, or authentication. The API key is never shown again after you save it, so editing a server that uses a key means pasting the key again.

Agents are linked to a server by an internal ID, not by its name. Renaming a server doesn't affect the agents that use it.

warning

Removing a server doesn't stop the agents that use it. Those agents keep running without it and find nothing there. Check the agents that use a server before you remove it.

Validate results

After connecting, confirm the source works before you rely on it:

• The server's card in Settings → Integrations shows the number of tools it offers.
• The server appears under Custom MCP servers when you create or edit an agent.
• Run a sample run on an agent that uses the server. A sample publishes nothing and returns proposed items with citations, so cited results from the server confirm the agent can read it.

Troubleshooting

What you see	Cause	Fix
Connection is rejected	The URL isn't an MCP server, doesn't support Streamable HTTP, isn't reachable from Atlan, or the API key was rejected	Check the URL and key, then connect again
Connection is rejected with Authentication set to None	The server requires a key	Edit the server, set Authentication to API key, and enter the key
A run is refused and the error names your server	The server offers no tools, or its credential is now rejected	Fix the server or update the API key on its card, then run again
A run completes with nothing from the server	The server's tools can't see the content in the agent's scope	Check what the API key can read and the scope on the agent, then run again

Need help

If you need assistance after reviewing this page, contact Atlan support.

See also

• Knowledge sources: how connections and access work
• Create an agent from a template: use this source in an agent