Use BuildBase in Zed

This page is part of BuildBase in your AI tools: it connects Zed's agent to BuildBase's own MCP server so you can manage your BuildBase organization from your editor. Zed signs you in as yourself with OAuth, and the agent never sees your organization's secrets.

What you need

• Zed. Its MCP docs state no plan requirement.
• A BuildBase console account. Zed signs in on BuildBase's sign-in page with your console email address.
• An organization whose AI agents setting is not Off (choose what agents may do).

Add the server

1. Open Settings > AI > MCP Servers.
2. Choose Add Server, then Add Remote Server.
3. Enter buildbase-console and the URL https://api.console.buildbase.app/mcp, with no headers.

Or add it to your settings.json yourself, under context_servers:

{
  "context_servers": {
    "buildbase-console": {
      "url": "https://api.console.buildbase.app/mcp"
    }
  }
}

There is no install link.

Sign in

With no Authorization header in the entry, Zed runs the standard MCP OAuth sign-in and opens BuildBase's sign-in page. It registers its own client with BuildBase, so there is no client id to fill in.

1. Sign in with your console account and your usual second step.
2. Read the consent screen: it names the tool and the scopes it asks for, console:read and console:write to start. Approve it.

When a task needs more, such as an export or a delete, Zed is told which scope is missing and the sign-in page opens again so you can approve just that one (what an agent asks for).

What you see when you connect

Once you have signed in, BuildBase shows the consent screen in your browser. It names the tool, lists the scopes it asks for and the server the access is for, and changes nothing until you choose Allow access. Here it is for a tool that registered itself:

Use it in the agent panel

Ask, for example:

• "Use buildbase-console to list my organizations and what agents may do in each."
• "Use buildbase-console to read the BuildBase docs on webhooks, then add a user.created handler to this app."
• "Use buildbase-console to show Acme's plans and what each one includes."

More, with what each one asks you to approve: example prompts.

What differs in Zed

• Tool permissions. agent.tool_permissions.default is confirm unless you change it, so Zed asks before every tool. To allow only BuildBase's reads, add per-tool keys such as mcp:buildbase-console:list_orgs and mcp:buildbase-console:console_get, and leave console_write, console_destructive_change, create_org and blueprint_apply on confirm. Never set the default to allow with BuildBase connected.
• Approvals of a change. Where Zed can ask you a question itself, the change BuildBase wants to make is shown to you and nothing happens unless you approve it. Otherwise the agent states the change and confirms it with a one-time code (what stays with you).
• Errors in the reply. When a BuildBase tool refuses something, Zed shows the server's message in the agent's reply, which says why and what to do.

If something goes wrong

To disconnect, remove the entry and disconnect the agent in BuildBase, which ends its session at once.

Related

• BuildBase in your AI tools: the server, its tools, and what stays with you.
• Use BuildBase in Cursor and Use BuildBase in Junie.
• Let your users connect Zed to your app: the same client in Agent-ready apps.
• Zed's own guide: Model Context Protocol.