Overview

The Umbrella MCP Server brings Umbrella cost management into your AI assistant using the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Ask questions in plain language and get real answers from your Umbrella data - cost and usage, budgets, commitments, Kubernetes, Business Mapping, AI Cost, anomalies, recommendations and live cloud pricing across AWS, Azure and GCP.

Capabilities

Supported AI clients

All clients sign in with your own Umbrella / SSO login.

MCP Server URL (all clients):

https://mcp.umbrellacost.io/mcp

Prerequisites

Before setting up the Umbrella MCP Server, ensure the following:

• An Umbrella user (email and password, or your company SSO).
• A supported AI client from the table above.

Connect Claude (web and Desktop)

Step 1: Open Claude

• Open Claude Web in your browser or launch the Claude Desktop application.

Step 2: Open the user menu

• Click your profile/user menu.

Step 4: Add a custom connector

• Select Connectors from the user menu.

• Click Add custom connector.

• Enter the Umbrella MCP details:

  Field	Value
  Name	Umbrella MCP
  Remote MCP server URL	https://mcp.umbrellacost.io/mcp

  

Step 5: Save & Connect

• Click Save.
• Then click Connect to activate the Umbrella MCP Server.

• Sign in to Umbrella with your email, then your password or company SSO. The sign-in page shows whether your session is a stay-signed-in session or a standard session.

Step 6: Verify Connection

You can verify the connection by asking Claude a question such as:

• List available MCP servers.
• You should see Umbrella MCP listed.

Setup - Umbrella MCP with Claude Code

Option 1 - Using 'Claude MCP add'

Before you start

• Claude Code is installed (https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/setup).
• You have an Umbrella user (email and password, or your company SSO).
• A browser is available on the same computer for the one-time sign-in.

Step 1: Add the Umbrella MCP server
In a terminal, run:

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user umbrella https://mcp.umbrellacost.io/mcp
--scope user makes Umbrella available in all your projects. Leave it out to add Umbrella to the current project only.

Step 2: Sign in

1. Start Claude Code: claude
2. Type /mcp, select umbrella (it shows "Needs authentication"), and choose Authenticate.
3. A browser window opens. Enter your Umbrella email, then sign in with your password or your company SSO.
4. The page shows Authentication Successful and your session type:
   1. Stay-signed-in session: Claude Code renews the session automatically. You will not need to sign in again unless you do not use it for a long time (30 days by default).
   2. ⏱️ Standard session: you will need to sign in again after the time shown (a few hours without use). Your Umbrella admin can enable stay-signed-in sessions (see Troubleshooting).
5. Return to the terminal. It shows Authentication successful. Connected to umbrella.

Step 3: Check the connection
Type /mcp. umbrella shows ✓ connected.

Ask a question, for example: What is my AWS cost per month for the last 6 months?

Manage the connection

• List servers: claude mcp list
• Sign in again (e.g. as another user): /mcp → umbrella → Clear authentication, then Authenticate.
• Remove: claude mcp remove umbrella (add --scope user if you added it with --scope user).

Troubleshooting

• "Needs authentication" again after a few hours: you have a Standard session. Ask your Umbrella admin to give users the offline_access role in your Keycloak realm (usually under Realm settings → User registration → Default roles). After that, sign in once more to get a stay-signed-in session.
• The browser does not open (e.g. a remote or SSH machine): copy the sign-in link shown in the terminal into a browser on that machine.
• Two Umbrella entries in /mcp: if you also added the Umbrella connector in claude.ai, Claude Code may show it as "claude.ai Umbrella". You only need one; remove one to avoid duplicate tools.
• Reconnect times out: run /mcp → umbrella → Reconnect again. The first request after a server restart can be slow.

Option 2 - Using Claude.ai connector

1. Install Claude Code

  npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

  2. Add the Umbrella connector at claude.ai

  The Claude Code CLI cannot complete OAuth on its own for Umbrella — the connector must first be registered with your Anthropic account via the web.

  	1. Go to https://claude.ai/settings/connectors
  	2. Click Add custom connector
  	3. Fill in:
    	- Name: umbrella
    	- URL: https://mcp.umbrellacost.io/mcp
  	4. Click Add
  	5. A browser tab opens to the Umbrella login page → sign in with your Umbrella credentials
  	6. Click Allow on the consent screen
  	7. The connector now shows Connected in claude.ai settings

Note: Connecting via claude.ai authenticates your web session only.
The Claude Code CLI is a separate session — it will still show as not authenticated until you complete step 4 below.

  3. Start Claude Code

  claude

  4. Authenticate the CLI session

  Inside Claude Code, type:
  /mcp
  - Select umbrella (it will show as 'Needs authentication')
  - Choose Authenticate
  - A browser opens → sign in to Umbrella → click Allow
  - Return to the terminal — you'll see Authentication successful. Connected to claude.ai umbrella.

  Run /mcp again to confirm status is now ✓ Connected.

  5. Try it - Ask a question

  What is my AWS cost per month?

Connect through an MCP gateway

Umbrella MCP supports connecting through an MCP gateway (for example, a corporate or partner gateway that brokers access to MCP servers for your users).

For security, Umbrella only completes sign-in to approved client addresses, so a gateway must be enabled before it can connect. Gateways are enabled on demand by Umbrella Support - if you want your gateway will be added to our allowlist, reach out to our support team at [email protected]

Request gateway access

Troubleshooting

Connector Not Visible

• Confirm you are on a Claude Pro plan.

Connection Issues

• Verify the MCP server URL is correct.
• Ensure network access to the MCP endpoint.
• Retry the connection after logging out and back in.

Authentication Errors

• Re-run the authentication flow.
• Ensure required permissions were granted.
• Clear browser cache if using the web version.