Getting Started with SiftHub MCP

SiftHub MCP lets you access your company’s sales intelligence directly from AI agents like Claude and ChatGPT. Once connected, you can ask questions about your products, pull competitive intel, generate proposals, prepare for calls, and more — all without leaving your AI agent.

This guide walks you through what SiftHub MCP is, how to set it up, and how to get the most out of it.

Time to set up: Under 2 minutes (Claude), about 5 minutes (Claude Code)

What is SiftHub MCP?

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard that lets AI agents and harnesses connect to external data sources. Think of it as a universal plug that lets your AI agent talk to other services.

SiftHub MCP is that plug for your company’s sales intelligence.

When you connect SiftHub MCP to an AI agent like Claude or ChatGPT, your AI agent can tap into everything SiftHub has access to — your CRM, call recordings, wikis, content libraries, Slack threads, support tickets, and more. When your AI agent encounters a question that requires company knowledge, it routes the question to SiftHub. SiftHub synthesizes an answer from your connected sources — grounded, cited, and structured for the task at hand — and sends it back. Your AI agent then uses that answer to complete whatever you actually asked for.

The result: instead of connecting a dozen separate tools to your AI workspace, you connect SiftHub once. SiftHub already aggregates your knowledge sources. It already understands the sales context. It already knows how to structure a battlecard vs. a proposal vs. a call prep brief.

What makes SiftHub MCP different?

You could connect a generic knowledge base or vector search to your AI agent. Here’s why SiftHub MCP is different:

Governed, not generated

Every answer SiftHub returns traces back to an approved source. This matters for DDQs, security questionnaires, and anything a compliance team will review. You’re not getting a hallucinated answer dressed up in confident language — you’re getting a grounded, cited response your team can stand behind.

Deal-aware, not generic

SiftHub knows which answers are stale, which were updated after a lost deal, and which apply to a specific vertical or buyer persona. It understands the difference between a first-call prep and a renewal check-in, and structures responses accordingly. A raw search over your docs doesn’t have that context.

Enterprise-grade authentication

SiftHub MCP authenticates via OAuth 2.0 with SSO support, role-based access, and audit trails. Every user authenticates individually, and access is scoped to their permissions. No API keys in config files.

How does SiftHub MCP relate to the AI Teammate?

Think of the AI Teammate as your home base — the deep, in-app experience for RFP workflows, proactive prep emails, content generation, and everything you already do inside SiftHub.

MCP is one more way to access the same intelligence. It extends the AI Teammate’s knowledge into the AI agents your team already works in — so whether you’re inside SiftHub or inside Claude, you’re drawing from the same sources, the same quality, the same citations.

Prerequisites

• An active SiftHub account with access to connected knowledge sources
• An MCP-compatible AI agent (Claude, ChatGPT, or any client that supports remote MCP servers)
• For Claude (custom connector): a Pro, Max, Team, or Enterprise plan (required for custom MCP connectors)
• For Claude Code: see Before you start under Setting up SiftHub MCP in Claude Code

MCP Server URL: https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp

Setting up SiftHub MCP in Claude (web & desktop)

1. Step 1: Open Claude and navigate to Customize → Connectors
   
2. Step 2: Click Add a new custom connector and name it “SiftHub”
   
3. Step 3: Set the URL to: https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp
   
4. Step 4: Click Add to save the connector.
   
    
5. Step 5: Find SiftHub in your list of Connectors and click Connect to authenticate with your SiftHub account.

A browser window will open where you can sign in to your SiftHub account and approve access. Once connected, SiftHub will be available in your Claude conversations.

Setting up SiftHub MCP in Claude Code

SiftHub's MCP server lets Claude Code search your SiftHub knowledge base, answer questions with citations, and browse your Q&A library, straight from the terminal. This section covers macOS and Linux. Setup takes about five minutes: add the server, then sign in with your SiftHub account.

Before you start

• Claude Code, up to date. Run claude update, then check with claude --version. The sign-in command used below needs a recent release.
• A SiftHub account you can sign in to on app.sifthub.io. Claude Code acts as you, so it sees only what your SiftHub role allows.
• A browser on the same machine. Sign-in opens a SiftHub page in your browser and returns to Claude Code on a local port.

Setup

Step 1. Add the SiftHub server

This adds SiftHub for your user account, so it's available in every project. The timeout gives each SiftHub tool call up to 11 minutes, because a detailed answer that searches many sources can take a few minutes. SiftHub is the name Claude Code shows for this connection. Server names are case-sensitive, so type SiftHub exactly as written in the commands that follow.

claude mcp add-json --scope user SiftHub \
  '{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp","timeout":660000}'

Step 2. Sign in

claude mcp login SiftHub

1. Your browser opens the SiftHub sign-in page.
2. Sign in with your SiftHub account, and approve access for Claude Code.
3. The browser shows that you can return to the terminal, and the terminal confirms sign-in.

Run this in a normal terminal window, not through Claude Code's ! prefix, which can't take the sign-in input. If Claude Code was already open when you added the server, restart it so the server appears. You can also sign in from inside Claude Code: run /mcp, choose SiftHub, then Authenticate. You only need to sign in once; Claude Code keeps you signed in.

Check it works

1. Run claude mcp get SiftHub. The status should read Connected.
2. Start Claude Code with claude, and run /mcp. SiftHub should be listed as connected, with its tools.
3. Ask: "What data sources are connected in SiftHub?" Claude Code should answer with your SiftHub sources.

Sharing the setup with your team (optional)

To give everyone working in a repository the same setup, add SiftHub at project scope instead of user scope. Claude Code writes it to .mcp.json in the repository root, which you can commit.

claude mcp add-json --scope project SiftHub \
  '{"type":"http","url":"https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp","timeout":660000}'

• Each person still signs in with their own SiftHub account (step 2), so everyone sees only what their own role allows.
• Claude Code asks each person to approve a project's .mcp.json servers the first time they open it.
• If someone needs the connection settings from Troubleshooting, they go in that person's own ~/.claude/settings.json.

Setting up SiftHub MCP in ChatGPT

Use the same server URL: https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp

Refer to ChatGPT’s documentation for how to add a remote MCP server. The authentication flow is the same — OAuth 2.0 with your SiftHub account.

Setting up SiftHub MCP in other tools

Any MCP-compatible client can connect to SiftHub using the server URL above. Refer to your client’s documentation for adding a remote MCP server.

Authentication

SiftHub MCP uses OAuth 2.0 for authentication. When you connect for the first time, a browser window will open where you can sign in to your SiftHub account and approve access.

• No API keys are needed.
• Each user authenticates individually — the MCP server accesses data based on your personal SiftHub account permissions.
• All access is scoped to your role and permissions, with full audit trails.

Note: SSO support will be enabled soon.

Source selection

Every time SiftHub MCP is invoked in a new conversation, it will ask you which sources to search. This gives you control over where your answers come from.

For example:

• For deal prep, you might select CRM, call recordings, and email.
• For proposal responses, you might select Q&A library, content library, and compliance docs.
• For competitive intel, you might select content library and battlecard sources.

SiftHub connects to sources like your Content Library, Q&A Library, Google Drive, Confluence, Slack, HubSpot, Salesforce, Zendesk, Zoom, Clari, and more. The sources available to you depend on what your organization has connected to SiftHub.

You can also default to 'All' sources if you don't wish to specify them.

How it works

Once SiftHub MCP is connected to your AI agent, here’s what happens:

• You ask your AI agent a question that requires company knowledge — for example, “Prepare me for my call with Acme today.”
• Your AI agent recognizes this needs company-specific context and routes the question to SiftHub.
• SiftHub searches your connected sources, synthesizes an answer with citations, and sends it back.
• Your AI agent uses that answer to complete your original request — building a prep brief, drafting a proposal, creating a deck, or simply giving you the answer.

For complex tasks, your AI agent may call SiftHub multiple times in a single conversation — for example, querying once for product differentiators, once for compliance answers, and once for customer proof points when building a proposal. This happens automatically.

Troubleshooting

I’m having authentication issues

Try disconnecting and reconnecting the SiftHub connector in your AI agent's settings. For Claude, go to Customize → Connectors, find SiftHub, disconnect and reconnect. For Claude Code, run claude mcp logout SiftHub, then claude mcp login SiftHub. If the issue persists, contact your SiftHub Customer Success Manager.

SiftHub isn’t responding to my questions

Make sure you’ve selected at least one source when prompted. If SiftHub MCP isn’t being invoked, try making your question more specific about needing company knowledge — for example, “Using SiftHub, what is our standard SLA for uptime?”

I’m getting incomplete answers

Try selecting more specific sources for your query. You can also ask follow-up questions in the same conversation to get deeper detail. For complex tasks, ask your AI agent to break the request into sections.

Do I need an API key?

No. SiftHub MCP uses OAuth 2.0 authentication. You’ll sign in through your browser when connecting for the first time.

What permissions does it need?

The MCP server requests access to your SiftHub account. Access is scoped to the sources and content your account has permission to view.

Are my queries visible to other users?

No. Each user authenticates individually, and all queries are scoped to your own account and permissions.

Does it work with other MCP clients?

Yes. Any client that supports remote MCP servers can connect using the URL https://mcp.sifthub.io/v1/mcp.

I'm having issues in Claude Code

Start with claude mcp get SiftHub; its Status and Issue lines name most problems.

Slow connections in Claude Code

If the connection times out, usually on slow or distant networks or behind a proxy, give Claude Code more time to connect. Open ~/.claude/settings.json (create it if it doesn't exist) and add these two settings. If the file already has an "env" section, add the two lines inside it.

{
  "env": {
    "MCP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MS": "20000",
    "MCP_TIMEOUT": "60000"
  }
}

For additional help, contact your SiftHub Customer Success Manager or reach out to support@sifthub.io.