Connect Claude or ChatGPT to the DotAlign MCP server

Updated 25 minutes ago by Jaspreet Bakshi

You need administrator access to DotAlign, and owner or administrator access to your Claude or ChatGPT workspace.

Step 1: Set up DotAlign

1. In DotAlign, click on your avatar on the top right and choose Data governance from the menu.
2. Select Ask DotAlign, then the MCP tab. The direct link to this page is https://<your DotAlign URL>/data-governance/ask-dotalign/mcp.
3. Under the Server section, make sure of the following:
   • Turn on MCP is checked.
   • Public base URL is the base URL of your DotAlign instance, for example https://dotalign.example.com.
4. Select Save.
5. Find the section for your assistant (Claude or ChatGPT). Under Authentication mode, make sure Interactive per user authentication is selected. Each person then signs in as themselves and sees only what they can see in DotAlign.
6. Check that the section has no alerts showing. For ChatGPT, a message about the redirect URI is expected until the redirect URL is populated, as ChatGPT has a separate URL for each connection.

Keep this tab open. You will copy values from it.

About the client secret - DotAlign shows the OAuth client secret only once, when it is created. If the section says “Shown only when created”, select Regenerate credentials, type Yes, and select Regenerate to get a new one. Regenerating disconnects anything already using the old values.

Step 2: Connect Claude

1. Open the connector page:
   • Team or Enterprise: an Owner goes to Organization settings > Connectors, selects Add, then Custom. If asked for the type, choose Web.
   • Free, Pro, Max or Ultra: go to Customize > Connectors and select Add custom connector.
2. Fill in the dialog with the values from the Claude section in DotAlign.

If the dialog shows only a name, a URL and Advanced settings, enter the client ID and secret under Advanced settings.

1. Select Add.
2. To connect, go to Customize > Connectors, find DotAlign, and select Connect.
3. A DotAlign window opens. Sign in with Microsoft if asked, then select Allow.

Each person in your organization repeats steps 4 and 5 for themselves.

Step 3: Connect ChatGPT

1. Go to ChatGPT Plugins, select the plus button, then Add custom MCP server. If you don’t see this option, a workspace owner needs to allow custom MCP servers in the workspace settings.
2. Enter DotAlign as the name.
3. Under Connection, enter the Server URL from the ChatGPT section in DotAlign.
4. For authentication, choose OAuth, then enter the OAuth client ID and OAuth client secret from DotAlign.
5. Review the warning, select I understand and want to continue, then Create as a plugin.
6. On the server’s page in ChatGPT, copy the whole redirect URI, exactly as shown.
7. Back in DotAlign, paste it into Callback URI in the ChatGPT section, then select Save.
8. In ChatGPT, find DotAlign in your workspace’s plugins, install it, and connect.
9. A DotAlign window opens. Sign in with Microsoft if asked, then select Allow.

Each person in your workspace connects and selects Allow for themselves.

Step 4: Check that it works

In a new chat, ask:

1. “What DotAlign tools do you have?” The assistant should list them.
2. “Using DotAlign team 1, who knows someone at a company you work with?” You should get names from DotAlign.

Include the team number in your questions. Your DotAlign administrator can confirm which number to use.

Good to know

• Keep the client secret private. Copy it straight from DotAlign into the assistant. Don’t send it by email, chat or support ticket.
• Connections last 7 days. After that, each person connects again.
• To stop all assistants at once, clear Turn on MCP on the MCP tab and select Save.
• If you regenerate credentials for Claude, remove the connector and add it again with the new values, because Claude doesn’t let you change them afterward. Each person then connects again.

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