Workstate Docs

Claude desktop ​

The Claude desktop app has two places to work with Claude: chat, and the Code tab, which runs Claude Code. Workstate works in the Code tab today. Chat cannot connect to Workstate yet.

In the Code tab ​

The Code tab runs Claude Code, so you set it up as the Claude Code guide describes. Put Workstate's servers in your project's .mcp.json.

On macOS, use the Keychain method, option 2. When you open the desktop app from the Dock or Finder, it does not see variables that you export in your shell profile, so a configuration that reads ${RAG_API_KEY} fails with 401 there. On Windows, the app inherits your user environment variables, so you can set RAG_API_KEY as one and use the configuration from Connect your agent as it is.

In short, on macOS:

  1. Add your key to the macOS Keychain, and save the mcp-headers.sh script that reads it.
  2. In your project's .mcp.json, give rag-corpus and rag-ledger a headersHelper that points to the script, and keep the X-RAG-Namespace header.
  3. Open the project in the Code tab and ask a question that your sources can answer.

In chat: not yet ​

Claude chat reaches remote MCP servers as custom connectors. A connector signs in with OAuth, or connects without signing in. Workstate identifies every caller by a personal API key, and it does not support MCP OAuth yet Coming soon. So you cannot add Workstate as a connector in chat today.

What about request headers?

Anthropic offers a beta, for a limited set of organisations, in which an organisation Owner adds a connector with one fixed key sent as a request header. Every member of the Claude organisation then uses the same key. With Workstate, that means everyone would search as the key's owner and reach only that person's namespaces, and every ledger entry would be recorded as that person's. Anthropic must also approve a header name such as X-RAG-Namespace before Owners can save it. We do not recommend this setup.

The chat app can also run local MCP servers, which you list in its claude_desktop_config.json file. Those are programs on your own computer. Workstate's servers are remote, and Workstate does not provide a local program for this.

Until chat can connect ​

  • Use the Code tab, or Claude Code in a terminal.
  • Use another client, such as Cursor or Codex.
  • To search yourself, use the console's Search and Ledger pages.

Workstate is built by Nerdstorm Pty Ltd, Sydney.