Alter Onboarding

Guide developers from setup through a verified, policy-aware, audited Alter API call.

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What it can do

What data it sees

Do you need an account

No: the server works without sign-in

Guide developers from setup through a verified, policy-aware, audited Alter API call.

How to connect

How to connect Alter Onboarding to Claude

The server address to paste into Claude settings:

https://mcp.alterauth.com/mcp

Open Claude (claude.ai or the desktop app).
Go to Settings → Connectors.
Click Add custom connector.
Paste the server address copied below into Remote MCP server URL and click Add.
In a chat, click + → Connectors and switch the new connector on.

Custom connectors are available on Free, Pro, Max, Team and Enterprise plans (Free is limited to one). On Team and Enterprise an organization Owner adds the connector first under Organization settings → Connectors.

Authorization

After you click Add, a sign-in window for the service opens. Sign in with your own account and approve access. Claude never sees your password.

How to connect Alter Onboarding to ChatGPT

The server address to paste into ChatGPT settings:

https://mcp.alterauth.com/mcp

Open ChatGPT in a browser (chatgpt.com). A Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise or Edu plan is required.
Turn on developer mode once: Settings → Apps → Advanced settings → Developer mode.
Open Settings → Connectors and click Create.
Fill in the form: Name (anything), Description (one line about what the service does), MCP server URL (copy it below).
Under Authentication choose OAuth if the service requires sign-in, otherwise None. Click Create.
In a new chat open + → Apps/Connectors and enable the connector.

OpenAI has renamed this section before (Connectors → Apps/Plugins). If the label differs, search settings for "developer mode". On Business/Enterprise workspaces an admin must allow custom connectors first.

Authorization

On first use ChatGPT opens the service's sign-in window. Sign in and approve access.

How to connect Alter Onboarding to Cursor

The server address to paste into Cursor settings:

https://mcp.alterauth.com/mcp

Fastest: click Open in Cursor below and confirm the prompt.

Manually:

In Cursor open Settings → Cursor Settings → MCP and click Add new global MCP server.
Paste the JSON copied below into ~/.cursor/mcp.json (per project: .cursor/mcp.json in the repo root).
Save the file. The server appears in the MCP list; authorize it there if asked.

Authorization

If the service needs sign-in, an authorize button appears next to the server in the MCP list.

Server tool list (13)

Raw names from tools/list. Only developers need these.

list_phases	List the lifecycle phases this server serves (setup, modify) and what each is for.
list_skills	List the guidance Skills available on this server, with the phase each serves. Read a skill via its resource (skill://alter/<name>).
get_started	Begin or change an Alter integration. Without args: lists the phases. With `phase`: returns that phase's flows + a heuristic hint — classify the use case YOURSELF and call again with `goal` for the plan. If the use case spans multiple flows, run them sequentially.
next_step	Return the next step for a flow. Pass the goal (flow id) and the id of the last completed step (omit `after` for the first step). Run each step's detect command FIRST and skip the run command when detection passes. The design step also returns that flow's complete starter ALTER_INTEGRATION.md.
sdk_integration	Return the Alter SDK wiring (install + client init + request) to write into the developer's codebase, for a language and setup goal.
sdk_pattern	Return a runnable Alter SDK call pattern for a language: `proxy-call` (zero-egress proxy_request + HITL), `resolve-grant-by-user` (call as an end user via their delegated grant), or `delegate-managed-secret` (the operator-side delegation step). Use AFTER `sdk_integration` has wired the client.
troubleshoot	Map a @alter-ai/cli exit code or error message to a remediation.
verify_integration	Return a copy-pasteable recipe to VERIFY an integration works: `first-call` (code↔design, an audit row, correct attribution) or `per-user-isolation` (a multi-user/broker server runs two users under different credentials and rejects cross-user access). Guidance only — you run the commands.
fetch_doc	Fetch a page from the bundled onboarding SUBSET of the Alter docs by slug (e.g. "quickstart"). Pages outside the subset are identified with the docs-site URL where they live (they are not missing — read them at that URL). Accepts any spelling the docs use: a bare slug, a leading slash, a #section anchor, a full docs.alterauth.com URL, or an older path that now redirects. Omit the slug to list the bundled subset.
list_providers	List every provider with an ingested API spec in Alter's provider-spec catalog, with each spec's source and freshness. Optionally filter by `kind`. Start here, then call list_operations for a provider's operations.
list_operations	List the API operations a provider exposes, live from Alter's provider-spec catalog (e.g. "what can I call on google?"). Returns operation ids + methods/paths, plus the spec's source and freshness. Omit `kind` to auto-detect the provider family; when the id exists in both oauth and managed you'll be asked to pass `kind`. Machine-readable rows ride in `structuredContent` (see this tool's outputSchema) — read those rather than parsing the prose.
get_operation_schema	Fetch one provider API operation's full contract — method, path, parameters, request/response schemas — live from Alter's provider-spec catalog, plus the spec's source and freshness. Get operation ids from list_operations first.
policy_language	The authoritative grammar of Alter's runtime-policy language, live from the deployed backend: every authorable rule type with its JSON body schema, caps, authorable levels, worked examples, and fail-closed semantics. Call with no arguments for the overview; pass `rule_type` (e.g. "content_match") for one type's full grammar. Use it before authoring rules with `alter policy rules create` — never guess a body shape. Vocabulary: the dashboard's "Runtime policies" surface, the docs' "policy", and `alter policy` are one feature, and the dashboard's "Human in the loop (HITL)" type is the `require_approval` rule type (its grant-editor block is the grant-level baseline of the same gate). Workflow prose: the `set-policy` modify flow (`get_started` with phase=modify), fetch_doc("guides/set-policies"), fetch_doc("guides/add-human-in-the-loop-approvals"), and fetch_doc("reference/cli/commands/policy").