Connect the Claude App Chat to Prowler MCP Server

Connect the Chat tab of the Claude desktop app to the Prowler Cloud MCP Server at https://mcp.prowler.com/mcp.

This page covers the Chat tab only. Looking for Claude Code — either the CLI or the app’s Code tab? Those are a different surface, with a different configuration file and a different connection method. See Connect Claude Code.

Prerequisites

Claude desktop app installed and signed in.
Node.js and npm, to install the bridge.
A Prowler Cloud account. The free tier is enough to start. Sign up at cloud.prowler.com.

Why “Add Custom Connector” Does Not Work

The app’s Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector dialog is the obvious place to paste an MCP URL, but it does not fit the Prowler Cloud MCP Server for two independent reasons:

Connectors authenticate with OAuth. Authenticating with a fixed API key sent as a request header is a separate mechanism that Anthropic documents as beta, rolled out on request. Without it, the dialog offers a URL and OAuth client credentials, with nowhere to supply Authorization: Bearer pk_....
Connectors do not connect from your machine. Claude reaches your MCP server from Anthropic’s cloud infrastructure rather than your local device. A Prowler MCP Server on localhost, behind a VPN, or restricted by an IP allowlist is unreachable that way regardless of authentication.

Use a local bridge instead, as described below.

Step 1: Get Your Prowler API Key

Create an API key in Prowler Cloud and copy it. The key begins with pk_ and is shown only once. Check the API Keys guide for details.

Step 2: Install the Bridge

mcp-remote presents the remote HTTP server to Claude as a local STDIO server and injects the Authorization header. Install a pinned version into a dedicated directory:

mkdir -p ~/.local/share/prowler-mcp-bridge
cd ~/.local/share/prowler-mcp-bridge
npm init -y
npm install --save-exact mcp-remote@0.1.38

Do not configure Claude to run npx mcp-remote directly. npx can fetch and execute a new version on every launch, which means unreviewed code runs with access to your API key. Install a pinned version and point Claude at the installed binary.

mcp-remote is community-maintained and is not an Anthropic product. Review it before use.

Step 3: Edit the Configuration File

In the Claude app, go to Settings → Developer and click Edit Config. This reveals claude_desktop_config.json:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Claude app Settings Developer tab showing the Edit Config button

Add the following, replacing the command path with the absolute path to the installed binary and the placeholder with your API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "prowler": {
      "command": "/absolute/path/to/.local/share/prowler-mcp-bridge/node_modules/.bin/mcp-remote",
      "args": [
        "https://mcp.prowler.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer ${PROWLER_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PROWLER_API_KEY": "pk_your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

Local server: Replace the URL with your own HTTP endpoint. Everything else stays the same.

Step 4: Restart the App

Quit the Claude app completely and reopen it. Configuration is read at startup.

Step 5: Start Using Prowler MCP

Open a Chat conversation and ask questions that use the Prowler tools:

“Show me all critical findings from my AWS accounts”
“What does the S3 bucket public access check do?”
“Summarize my CIS compliance status by provider”

Claude app chat showing the Prowler MCP tools available

Troubleshooting

Server Does Not Appear After Editing the Config

Quit and reopen the app entirely — closing the window is not enough on macOS.
Confirm claude_desktop_config.json is valid JSON.
Confirm the command path points at a real executable. A wrong path surfaces as the server failing to start rather than as an auth error.

Tools Appear in Claude Code but Not in Chat

Expected. The Chat tab does not read ~/.claude.json, so servers added with claude mcp add never appear here. The Chat tab needs an entry in claude_desktop_config.json, which is what this guide sets up.

Authentication Fails With 401

Confirm the header value includes the Bearer prefix.
Confirm the key has not been revoked in Prowler Cloud.

Checking the Logs

macOS: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log

tail -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log

Next Steps

Tools Reference

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Configuration reference for every supported client

Getting Help

Search for existing GitHub issues
Ask for help in our Slack community
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Welcome

Prowler Products

Open Source

Prowler vs. Others

Connect the Claude App Chat to Prowler MCP Server

Prerequisites

Why “Add Custom Connector” Does Not Work

Step 1: Get Your Prowler API Key

Step 2: Install the Bridge

Step 3: Edit the Configuration File

Step 4: Restart the App

Step 5: Start Using Prowler MCP

Troubleshooting

Server Does Not Appear After Editing the Config

Tools Appear in Claude Code but Not in Chat

Authentication Fails With 401

Checking the Logs

Next Steps

Tools Reference

All MCP Clients

Getting Help

​Prerequisites

​Why “Add Custom Connector” Does Not Work

​Step 1: Get Your Prowler API Key

​Step 2: Install the Bridge

​Step 3: Edit the Configuration File

​Step 4: Restart the App

​Step 5: Start Using Prowler MCP

​Troubleshooting

​Server Does Not Appear After Editing the Config

​Tools Appear in Claude Code but Not in Chat

​Authentication Fails With 401

​Checking the Logs

​Next Steps

Tools Reference

All MCP Clients

​Getting Help

Prerequisites

Why “Add Custom Connector” Does Not Work

Step 1: Get Your Prowler API Key

Step 2: Install the Bridge

Step 3: Edit the Configuration File

Step 4: Restart the App

Step 5: Start Using Prowler MCP

Troubleshooting

Server Does Not Appear After Editing the Config

Tools Appear in Claude Code but Not in Chat

Authentication Fails With 401

Checking the Logs

Next Steps

Getting Help