---
title: "claude.ai, Claude Desktop, mobile, and Cowork connectors — MCP compatibility"
description: "One hosted runtime backs all four surfaces, and it connects from Anthropic's infrastructure rather than from the reader's machine — which is why DNS, redirect, and firewall behavior differ from every local client here."
canonicalUrl: "https://zuplo.com/learn/mcp/compatibility/clients/claude-connectors"
pageType: "mcp-client"
kind: "Hosted connector runtime"
verified: "2026-07-31"
---

# claude.ai, Claude Desktop, mobile, and Cowork connectors

> One hosted runtime backs all four surfaces, and it connects from Anthropic's infrastructure rather than from the reader's machine — which is why DNS, redirect, and firewall behavior differ from every local client here.

_Hosted connector runtime. Protocol revision: `initialize` era._

## Support

- **stdio** — Partial
- **Streamable HTTP** — Yes
- **Legacy HTTP+SSE** — Unknown
- **Protocol revision** — `initialize` era
- **Runs the OAuth flow** — Yes
- **Registration (RFC 7591)** — Yes
- **Metadata document** — Yes
- **Pre-registered client ID** — Yes
- **Sends resource (RFC 8707)** — Yes
- **Validates iss (RFC 9207)** — Unknown
- **Custom headers** — Partial

**Protocol revision.** Not published. Claude still runs the `initialize` handshake, and Anthropic says support for `2026-07-28` is rolling out across Claude products.

## Caveats and sources

Each one names the column it qualifies and cites the page it comes from, which is often not the page in the row's primary source.

### stdio

Local servers reach Claude Desktop as MCPB desktop extensions, which Anthropic documents for Team and Enterprise plans. The other three surfaces have no local-server path.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/custom/desktop-extensions)

### Legacy HTTP+SSE

Anthropic documents the hosted connector runtime as taking the URL of a remote MCP server without naming a transport. The Messages API connector and Managed Agents both document SSE, but those are different runtimes, so their support doesn't transfer.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/custom/remote-mcp)

### Metadata document

Claude selects a metadata document only when your authorization server metadata advertises both `client_id_metadata_document_supported` and `none` in `token_endpoint_auth_methods_supported`. Anthropic recommends it over dynamic registration for busy servers, because registration mints a new client on every fresh connection.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/authentication)

### Pre-registered client ID

Custom connectors only, where an admin supplies OAuth client credentials to scope the client to one organization. Directory connectors use a single shared OAuth application per connector, with no per-organization client.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/authentication)

### Custom headers

Request header authentication is in beta and rolling out by request — Anthropic's own wording is to contact them for early access, so don't build against it as generally available. Header names come from an allowlist of standard authentication and routing names, you can add up to four, an organization administrator enters them, and Claude sends each value exactly as typed without adding a scheme. `Authorization` can't be set on a connection that also uses OAuth.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/custom/remote-mcp)

### Redirects

If your registered URL redirects to a different host, the `Authorization` header is dropped on the redirect. Anthropic names this as the reason a server can work in Claude Code or MCP Inspector and fail on claude.ai: a local client fails fast on the redirect, while the hosted runtime follows it and loses the credential.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/troubleshooting)

### Client credentials grant

A machine-to-machine `client_credentials` grant with no user in the loop isn't supported, because every connection requires user consent. Enterprise Managed Auth is the consent-free path, it's in beta on Team and Enterprise plans, and it excludes dynamic client registration.

[Source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/enterprise-managed-auth)

[Primary source](https://claude.com/docs/connectors/building/authentication)

_This row was last verified 2026-07-31 against the 2026-07-28 revision._

- **Clients** — [every client in the matrix](/learn/mcp/compatibility/clients)