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If a tool you use isn’t in Swan’s integrations catalog, you can connect it directly through MCP (Model Context Protocol) — an open standard many tools now support for exposing their capabilities to AI agents. This page covers Swan as the MCP client, consuming your server’s tools. The other direction exists too — Swan is also an MCP server your own agents can connect to and talk to: see connect your agent to Swan.

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Connecting a server

From Tools, click “Add MCP Server” and give Swan its URL and how to authenticate — either an HTTP header/query-param value (like an API key) or an OAuth2 flow, depending on what the server requires. There’s no support for importing a JSON config file (like a claude_desktop_config.json) — you configure the connection directly through this URL-and-auth form.

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Presets

A handful of common servers have ready-made presets, so you only need to supply credentials rather than the raw URL — today: Monday.com, Close CRM, SimilarWeb, Mixpanel, HeyReach, Outreach, Gamma, and Zapier. These show up as cards alongside the rest of the integrations catalog in Tools. Presets use whatever auth method that server expects — most are OAuth, a couple (SimilarWeb, HeyReach, Zapier) use an API key or token passed as a header or query parameter instead. You’re not limited to these — any SSE- or HTTP-based MCP server can be added as a general custom connection, preset or not.

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How connected tools show up

Once connected, the server’s tools appear to the agent as their own toolkit, alongside your built-in and app-catalog toolkits. You (or Swan) can reference them in triggers, templates, and conversations the same way as any other tool. Open the server’s card in Tools to see its discovered tools, re-sync them after the server’s tool list changes, or edit its name, headers, and custom instructions.

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Cost

Each call to a tool from a connected MCP server costs 1 credit by default, the same baseline as a HubSpot or app-catalog write. See credits for the full picture of what costs what.

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Security

Tool output from your MCP server flows directly into the agent’s context, the same as any other tool result — the agent reads and reasons over whatever the server returns. Only connect servers you trust, and be mindful of what data a server can see or return before wiring it in.

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Common questions

Can Swan act as an MCP server, not just a client? Yes — Swan exposes its own MCP server that any MCP-capable agent can connect to and hand work to. See connect your agent to Swan. Do I need to know the exact MCP server URL, or can I just pick from a list? Either — use a preset if the server you want is listed, or enter any MCP server’s URL manually for anything else. What if the server requires OAuth? Swan walks you through an OAuth flow when you add the server, the same as connecting an app from the catalog. Does a custom MCP connection replace the built-in integrations? No, it’s additive — use MCP for tools Swan doesn’t already integrate with natively. The tool I want doesn’t expose an MCP server either — now what? There’s one more route: store the tool’s API key as a secret and have Swan call its API directly. See direct API access. Can I limit which of a connected server’s tools the agent is allowed to use? Yes — open the server’s card in Tools (Capabilities tab) and you’ll see every tool it exposes, each with the same enable/disable and approval controls as tools from any built-in integration.