Connect your agent
Choose the route your AI agent takes into your instance, by where it runs and what it can do, and set it up.
An agent reaches your data the way any program does: by one route into your instance, with a credential that reaches only what you approve. You need an instance the agent's computer can reach; the Quickstart starts one.
| Route | Suits | Credential |
|---|---|---|
| The Marfa plugin | Claude Code and Codex | Sign in and approve |
| The instance's MCP server | Claude and ChatGPT on the web, the desktop and a phone | Sign in and approve |
| The CLI | An agent that runs shell commands | A key of its own |
| A synced folder | An agent that edits files | The folder's key |
| The HTTP API and the SDKs | An agent you build | A key, or sign in and approve |
Claude Code and Codex: the Marfa plugin
The Marfa plugin is one plugin for both, with three skills. connect adds your instance's MCP server and has you sign in, find-and-save finds and saves items without duplicating or overwriting anything, and design-a-type drafts the smallest change when a new kind of record needs a type. The plugin holds nothing else: it doesn't install the CLI or run anything on your computer.
claude plugin marketplace add withmarfa/marfa-plugin
claude plugin install marfa@withmarfaStart a new session and ask the agent to connect to Marfa. It asks for your instance's address, adds the server, and opens your instance's approval page in your browser, where you choose what it may reach. Use Marfa with AI agents covers adding the server by hand and an agent that runs unattended.
Claude and ChatGPT: the MCP server
Claude and ChatGPT connect from their own servers, so your instance needs a public https address. Add your instance's address followed by /mcp once as a custom connector on the web, and it works in the same account's desktop and phone apps. Connect Claude and ChatGPT shows each app's steps.
An agent that runs commands: the CLI
A coding agent that runs shell commands can use the CLI, which reaches every operation. Give it a key of its own, holding only the types it needs, so you can tell its work from yours and revoke it alone. Use the CLI instead sets this up, and Manage keys makes the key.
An agent that edits files: a synced folder
A synced folder keeps a directory on your computer in step with your items, each note a Markdown file. While the folder is watched, an agent edits the files with the tools it already has, and each change reaches the instance. It reaches only what the folder's key holds. Sync a folder sets one up.
An agent you build: the HTTP API and the SDKs
An agent you write calls the HTTP API directly, or through the TypeScript SDK or the Swift SDK. It uses a key, or signs in so the owner approves what it asks for, as Authenticate describes.
Give it these docs
An agent that builds on Marfa does better with the current docs than from memory. Docs for agents connects the docs MCP server, which reaches no one's data. Agents, the CLI and MCP explains what keeps an agent to what you allowed.