Claude API MCP connector with Sume: what works today
The Claude API MCP connector has no documented way to authenticate to Sume's hosted MCP today. Why, and what to use instead, like the Agent SDK.
There is no documented way today to authenticate the Claude API's MCP connector to Sume's hosted MCP server. The connector's only credential field, authorization_token, carries an OAuth token your application obtains, and Sume's docs say not to forward Sume OAuth tokens to third-party providers or to mint API keys for hosted OAuth clients as a workaround. To give Claude Sume's tools from code, use a client that sends your own headers, such as the Claude Agent SDK in Claude Agent SDK MCP server: connect Sume with an API key.
The connector facts come from Claude's MCP connector page and the Create a Message (Beta) reference; Sume's side comes from OAuth and API keys, MCP quickstart, and MCP tools and gates, all read on 2026-09-27. Sume publishes no package or connector for the Claude API, and Sume's basics page says hosted MCP still works but is not part of the primary path today.
What does the MCP connector need from a server?
The connector is a beta turned on with the anthropic-beta: mcp-client-2025-11-20 header. It has two parts: a server definition in mcp_servers and an MCPToolset in tools that enables the server's tools, all of them or an allowlist. Sume's endpoint fits the transport side: https://mcp.sume.com/mcp starts with https://, and Sume's quickstart points streamable HTTP clients at it, one of the two transports the connector supports. The credential is what doesn't fit.
| Field | Where | What Claude's docs say |
|---|---|---|
type | mcp_servers | Only "url" is supported. |
url | mcp_servers | Must start with https://. |
name | mcp_servers | Unique; referenced by exactly one MCPToolset. |
authorization_token | mcp_servers | Optional OAuth authorization token, if the server requires one. |
mcp_server_name | mcp_toolset in tools | Must match a server name in mcp_servers. |
default_config, configs | mcp_toolset | Turn tools on or off (enabled, default true) for the whole set or per tool; configs overrides default_config. |
Why can't authorization_token carry a Sume credential?
Claude's page says API consumers handle the OAuth flow themselves, obtain the access token before the call, and refresh it as needed. The beta reference lists no field for custom headers: a server definition has type, name, url, authorization_token, and the deprecated tool_configuration. Sume's hosted MCP accepts an OAuth access token or a Sume API key, which are not interchangeable, and the key travels as Authorization: Bearer <SUME_API_KEY> or x-api-key. Neither credential has a documented place in the connector:
- A Sume OAuth token comes from the consent flow Sume runs for MCP clients, and Sume's credential rules say not to forward OAuth tokens to third-party providers. Sending it in
authorization_tokenpasses it to Anthropic's API. - Neither page says a Sume API key belongs in
authorization_token, and Sume's rules say not to mint API keys for hosted OAuth clients as a workaround. - Without a credential, Sume answers the connection with an OAuth challenge and protected-resource metadata.
What can I use instead?
Use a client whose documented settings carry one of Sume's credentials. Sume's gates stay the same whichever client you pick: paid tools such as generate_video need an idempotency_key, dry_run=true previews admission and cost without submitting the job, and jobs_wait holds one call for at most 55 seconds. Sume MCP tools list groups the tools by read, write, and paid.
- Claude Agent SDK: its HTTP server config takes authentication headers directly, so it can send Sume's API-key header. Claude Agent SDK MCP server has the setup.
- Your own MCP client: Claude's page points to the SDKs' client-side MCP helpers when you need more control over the connection, and Sume keeps API-key remote MCP for automation that does not speak OAuth.
- The Claude apps: Add Sume to Claude as a custom connector covers the connector screens in Claude itself.
- No MCP: Sume's basics page names the Format API, called over HTTP, as the surface most partners should integrate. MCP vs CLI vs API for AI agents compares the options.
What are the connector's other limits?
Claude's page lists these for every server, not just Sume:
- It is a beta on the Claude API, Claude Platform on AWS, and Microsoft Foundry, and is not available on Amazon Bedrock or Google Cloud.
- Only tool calls are supported from the MCP feature set.
- The server must be publicly exposed through HTTP, over Streamable HTTP or SSE; local STDIO servers can't be connected directly.
- The connector isn't covered by zero data retention (ZDR) arrangements: tool definitions and results exchanged with MCP servers follow Anthropic's standard data retention policy.
- The
mcp-client-2026-09-15beta header records each server's tool list and lets you pin it; the oldermcp-client-2025-04-04header is deprecated.
Sources
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