Plugin (recommended) — installs the MCP connection plus Tako's bundled research skills in one step, and works immediately on the free tier — no API key to mint or manage:

claude plugin marketplace add TakoData/tako-mcp
claude plugin install tako@tako

That's it — tako_search works right away on the anonymous free tier. To unlock the full toolset and your own account limits, authenticate once with OAuth: run /mcp inside Claude Code, select tako, and choose Authenticate. A browser opens to sign you in with your Tako account and a per-host API key is minted for you automatically (visible and revocable at tako.com/console/api-keys). The same OAuth flow powers the plugin on Claude.ai — the plugin's Tako connector connects with a click, no token pasting.

If you previously added the server with claude mcp add, remove it first (claude mcp remove tako-mcp) so you don't end up with two copies of every tool.

Updating from an earlier plugin version? Older releases asked for a Tako API key in the plugin config; that setting is gone, so after updating your connection silently lands on the anonymous tier (tako_search runs; the rest asks you to sign in) — nothing errors, but your account limits are no longer active. Run /mcp → tako → Authenticate once (or use the Connect button on Claude.ai) to restore full authenticated access.

Or add the MCP server directly (then authenticate in place via /mcp → tako → Authenticate):

claude mcp add tako --transport http https://mcp.tako.com/mcp

Verify with claude mcp list (should show tako connected) or /mcp inside a session.

Use the one-click badge above, or add to ~/.cursor/mcp.json — Cursor prompts you to sign in on first use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to your Windsurf MCP config — Windsurf prompts you to sign in on first use:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Add to .vscode/mcp.json (workspace) or your user mcp.json — VS Code prompts you to sign in on first use:

{
  "servers": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Extension (recommended) installs in one command, and works immediately on the free tier with no API key to mint or manage:

gemini extensions install https://github.com/TakoData/tako-mcp

That installs the MCP connection, Tako's bundled research skills, and three commands:

To unlock the full toolset and your own account limits, authenticate once: run /mcp auth tako inside Gemini CLI. A browser opens to sign you in with your Tako account, and a per-host API key is minted for you automatically (visible and revocable at tako.com/console/api-keys).

Manual config: if you'd rather not install the extension, or you want to pin a ?tools= allowlist, add to ~/.gemini/settings.json (authenticate later with /mcp auth tako):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tako": {
      "httpUrl": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

To use an API key instead, add a headers block with "Authorization": "Bearer <key>" — but fill it completely: Gemini substitutes unset ${VAR} references literally, and a malformed Authorization header is rejected rather than ignored, so a half-filled token breaks the connection where no token at all would have worked.

Add to opencode.json — OpenCode prompts you to sign in on first use:

{
  "mcp": {
    "tako": {
      "type": "remote",
      "url": "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp",
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Codex connects to remote servers through the mcp-remote bridge, which runs the sign-in flow in your browser on first connect:

[mcp_servers.tako]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"]

Add to Zed settings.json (via the mcp-remote bridge, which runs the sign-in flow in your browser on first connect):

{
  "context_servers": {
    "tako": {
      "source": "custom",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.tako.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}