Docs/AI tools (MCP)/MCP setup

Connect Your AI Agent to Prowlo

Prowlo's MCP server gives your AI agent direct access to your Dataset and live Reddit — semantic search, typed JSON, read-only. The easiest way is a one-URL custom connector in Claude (sign in with OAuth, no API key); other tools connect with an API key.

Works with Claude

Claude

Claude Code VS Code

VS Code

Zed

Cursor

Cline

Windsurf

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard that lets AI agents talk to external services through one typed interface. Instead of copying data between tabs, your agent queries Prowlo directly and gets clean, structured results back.

With Prowlo's MCP server, Claude, Cursor, Cline, and any MCP-speaking client get filtered, ranked Reddit access — semantic search over a curated dataset plus live Reddit lookups — as typed JSON the agent can reason over. No raw HTML, no scraping, no Reddit API credentials. It's read-only: your agent reads, you decide what to do.

Easiest: add Prowlo as a custom connector

The simplest way to connect — no API key, no config file, no restart. In Claude, add Prowlo as a custom connector and sign in with your browser:

https://api.prowlo.com/mcp

1.Open Customize → Connectors and click Add custom connector.
2.Paste the URL above and click Add.
3.Click Connect and sign in to Prowlo in the browser window (OAuth).

Check your Claude plan first

Custom connectors work on every Claude plan, but two limits stop people mid-flow and neither shows a helpful error:

•Free — One custom connector, total. If you already have one connected, Claude will not let you add Prowlo until you remove it.
•Pro & Max — Multiple connectors. Add yours under Customize → Connectors → + → Add custom connector.
•Team & Enterprise — Only an organization Owner can add a connector, under Organization settings → Connectors → Add → Custom → Web. Everyone else then enables it under Customize → Connectors — a member cannot add it themselves.

Blocked by either of these? Claude Code, VS Code, Zed, and Cursor connect to Prowlo per-user over the same hosted endpoint — no org permission, no connector limit, and no waiting on an Owner. See the coding-tool commands below.

Coding tools: connect natively, no API key

Claude Code, VS Code, Zed, Cursor, and Windsurf all speak remote HTTP MCP and run the OAuth handshake themselves. Point them at the hosted URL and sign in — no key to copy or rotate, and nothing to bridge through mcp-remote.

Claude Code

claude mcp add --transport http -s user prowlo https://api.prowlo.com/mcp
claude mcp login prowlo

--transport http is required — without it Claude Code treats the URL as a local command and the server fails to start.

VS Code

code --add-mcp '{"name":"prowlo","type":"http","url":"https://api.prowlo.com/mcp"}'

Zed

Settings → AI → MCP Servers → Add Server → Add Remote Server, paste the URL, leave headers empty. Zed opens your browser to sign in.

Per-tool guides with troubleshooting are linked below. If your client has no OAuth support, use the API-key method next.

Prerequisites (API-key method)

•A Prowlo account (the 14-day trial includes full MCP access)
•An API key ( learn how to create one)
•One of the supported clients: Claude Desktop, Claude Code, VS Code, Zed, Cursor, Cline, or Windsurf

Connect with an API key (other tools)

Create an API Key

a.Go to API Access in your Prowlo dashboard
b.Click Generate Key
c.Copy your key (starts with prowlo_)

Add the Config

Paste this into your client's MCP settings (the exact location depends on the tool — see the per-tool guides below):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prowlo": {
      "url": "https://api.prowlo.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with the key you just copied.

Restart Your Client

a.Fully quit your client (don't just minimize it)
b.Reopen it — Prowlo's tools load automatically
c.Try asking: "What is r/MachineLearning saying about vector databases this week?"

Claude Cowork

In Claude Cowork, use the custom connector method above — paste https://api.prowlo.com/mcp, click Connect, and sign in with OAuth. No API key, no JSON, no restart.

One-click marketplace listing is coming

A fully-listed Prowlo connector — connectable in one click from Claude's directory — ships once it clears Anthropic's review. Until then, the custom-connector URL above gets you the same OAuth experience today.

Tool-Specific Guides

Claude Desktop

Add Prowlo in Claude Desktop’s developer config.

Claude Code

Two commands — register the URL, then sign in with OAuth.

VS Code

One `code --add-mcp` command, then approve the sign-in.

Zed

Add a remote server in Settings → AI and sign in.

Cursor

Enable Prowlo in Cursor’s MCP settings.

Windsurf

Configure Prowlo in Windsurf’s Cascade panel.

Available Tools

Once connected, your agent has these tools. You never call them by name — you ask in plain English and the agent composes the calls. All Reddit content is read-only.

Semantic dataset

search_dataset

Search a curated Reddit corpus by meaning. Every record carries a vector embedding, so the agent gets the handful of posts that actually match — ranked, typed JSON, not a thousand raw threads.

list_records · get_record · get_dataset_summary

List and filter records, fetch a single record by ID, summarize what's in the dataset, or pull your matched feed.

Subreddit catalog

catalog_search_subreddits · catalog_top_subreddits

Discover communities in Prowlo's own pre-crawled catalog (~1,200 tracked subreddits): search semantically by product or niche, or browse rankings by size, activity, and 30-day growth. Cached, free — no credits.

catalog_get_subreddit

Vet one community before watching it: members, posts/day, 7- and 30-day growth, promo tolerance, and similar communities by content and by shared audience. The same data behind the free tools on prowlo.com.

Research

research_run

Start a hosted Community research run for your product. Prowlo reads about 1,000 recent posts and 3,000 comments across candidate subreddits, then reports ranked communities with quoted evidence, their rules, what content wins, competitor mentions, voice of customer, and a 30-day engagement plan. Takes about 20 minutes. Your first run is free; later runs use AI credits.

research_get

Read the latest report (or a specific run) section by section — summary, communities by tier, content that wins, competitors, voice of customer, plan, or the full markdown — and check progress while a run is still going. Free, no credits.

Live sources

social_search · social_list_posts · social_get_post

Search a source live, list a channel or ranking, and pull a post/story with its comment thread. One platform parameter selects Reddit or Hacker News — same tools, typed JSON, read-only.

social_get_user · social_get_user_activity · social_find_channels

Read a user's profile and recent activity, or discover/inspect channels (Reddit subreddits). Each call is 1 credit.

Watchers & keywords

Manage what Prowlo tracks for you, straight from your agent — no switching to the dashboard.

list_watchers · keyword_list

See your active watchers — channels, tags, record counts — and tracked keywords, with match counts and last-match timestamps.

watcher_create · watcher_update · watcher_delete

Create watchers for communities or all-of-Reddit keyword searches (platform reddit_search), tag them so records arrive labeled, pause/resume, or remove. Tags set here appear as chips in the dashboard, and dashboard-set tags come back over MCP.

keyword_create · keyword_update · keyword_delete

Add tracked terms — one or a whole list in a single call (new keywords backfill recent matches) — pause a noisy one, or remove it. Plan limits apply.

Trends & alerts

trend_list · trend_get

Read time-series on volume and activity for the topics you track. The series is sparse: intervals with zero matches are omitted, so treat missing buckets as zero.

alert_list · alert_create · alert_update · alert_delete

Create and manage alerts — e.g. ping Slack whenever a brand or keyword is mentioned on Reddit.

What You Can Ask

"What is r/MachineLearning saying about vector databases this week?"

"Find subreddits where small SaaS teams complain about analytics pricing, check which are active, and watch the best three."

"Research where my customers are on Reddit and tell me which three communities to start with, and what to post there."

"How big is r/selfhosted, is it growing, and which communities share its audience?"

"Pull this thread and its comments so I can summarize the pain points."

"Find people describing the problem my product solves and summarize the recurring pain points."

"Alert me in Slack whenever "Acme" gets mentioned on Reddit."

"What are the rules and recent activity in r/SaaS, r/startups, and r/Entrepreneur?"

"Show me what changed in my watched topics over the last 7 days."

"Add "Sanity alternative" as a tracked keyword and pause "CMS" — too noisy."

Your agent handles the rest — composing the calls, reasoning over your Dataset and live Reddit, and coming back with something you can use. Prowlo is read-only: it reads and serves data; any action you take stays in your hands.

Ready to Connect?

Generate a key, paste the config, restart your client. If you run into issues, check our troubleshooting guide.

Generate an API Key API Key Guide

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