Setup
Configure the Zernio MCP server in Claude Desktop, Cursor, and other clients, hosted or running locally, plus troubleshooting.
Choose your preferred setup method:
The hosted MCP server at mcp.zernio.com requires no local installation. Just configure your client to connect over HTTP.
Get Your API Key
Go to zernio.com/dashboard/api-keys and create an API key.
Configure Your Client
Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json only supports local stdio servers (command + args). Remote servers like mcp.zernio.com are added through the GUI instead.
The url + headers form for claude_desktop_config.json shown in older guides does not work in current Claude Desktop builds — that file is stdio-only.
Open Claude Desktop and go to Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector:
- Name: Zernio
- URL:
https://mcp.zernio.com/mcp
Click Add. Claude redirects you to sign in and authorize with your Zernio account (OAuth), then the connector activates. You don't paste an API key for this path. The sign-in flow handles authorization.
If you tried this before and saw "Couldn't reach the MCP server", remove the connector and add it again. Claude caches a failed authorization attempt, so a stale failure persists until you re-add it.
If you'd rather configure it in claude_desktop_config.json, use the mcp-remote stdio bridge:
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json{
"mcpServers": {
"zernio": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"mcp-remote@latest",
"https://mcp.zernio.com/mcp",
"--header",
"Authorization: Bearer your_api_key_here"
]
}
}
}Paste the full sk_... API key directly into the --header value. Earlier examples used an ${AUTH} env-var indirection, but Claude Desktop on Windows does not always expand env vars into npx args, which leaves the header empty and causes a misleading 404 / OAuth-discovery error.
Cursor
Add to your project's .cursor/mcp.json:
{
"zernio": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://mcp.zernio.com/mcp",
"headers": {
"Authorization": "Bearer your_api_key_here"
}
}
}Restart Your Client
Close and reopen your AI client. The Zernio integration will be available immediately.
Run the MCP server locally using uvx (no install needed).
Install uv
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | shpowershell -c "irm https://astral.sh/uv/install.ps1 | iex"Get Your API Key
Go to zernio.com/dashboard/api-keys and create an API key.
Configure Claude Desktop
Open Claude Desktop settings and go to Developer > Edit Config:
Edit claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"zernio": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": ["--from", "zernio-sdk[mcp]", "zernio-mcp"],
"env": {
"ZERNIO_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
}
}
}
}Restart Claude Desktop
Close and reopen Claude Desktop. The Zernio integration will be available immediately.
Install the MCP server via pip.
pip install zernio-sdk[mcp]Configure Claude Desktop:
{
"mcpServers": {
"zernio": {
"command": "zernio-mcp",
"env": {
"ZERNIO_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
}
}
}
}pip install zernio-sdk[mcp] puts the zernio-mcp command on your PATH. If Claude Desktop can't find it, use the absolute path (run which zernio-mcp to get it) or the uvx method above.
Replace your_api_key_here with your actual API key.
Troubleshooting
"Command not found: uvx" (local setup only)
Make sure uv is installed and in your PATH:
# Check if installed
uvx --version
# If not, install it
curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | shYou may need to restart your terminal or add uv to your PATH.
"Invalid API key"
- Check your API key at zernio.com/dashboard/api-keys
- Make sure you copied it correctly (no extra spaces)
- Verify the key is active
"No accounts connected"
You need to connect social media accounts at zernio.com before you can post.
Changes not taking effect
After editing your client's MCP configuration, you must restart the client completely.
Next
- Tools - what the server can do and the parameter reference for the core tools