Claude Setup

Use this guide when Claude should use live Roster MCP for approval routing, participant lookup, delegations, labels, projects, and Resolve history.

Prerequisites

• A reachable Roster MCP URL, for example <your-roster-public-url>/mcp.
• ROSTER_AUTH_URL set to the public Roster origin, for example <your-roster-public-url>.
• The default MCP auth mode supports OAuth user access and API-key automation. Set ROSTER_MCP_AUTH_MODE=oauth only for OAuth-only access.
• A pre-registered OAuth client, or a controlled Dynamic Client Registration window when Claude must register itself during connector setup.
• A Roster identity with the required mcp:* scopes.
• Claude Skills enabled when adding the optional Roster skill.

Claude’s custom connector must reach a public HTTPS URL. Use the deployed Roster MCP endpoint for production access.

Configure Roster

Use OAuth for normal Claude users. The default api_key,oauth also keeps API-key automation available:

ROSTER_AUTH_URL=<your-roster-public-url>

Production disables Dynamic Client Registration by default. If your Roster administrator supplies a pre-registered public-client ID, keep registration disabled and enter that client ID in Claude’s optional OAuth settings.

If Claude must self-register, use a controlled setup window. Restrict the Roster registration endpoint to the administrator/client network at the ingress, then start Roster with:

ROSTER_OAUTH_DYNAMIC_CLIENT_REGISTRATION=true
ROSTER_OAUTH_UNAUTHENTICATED_CLIENT_REGISTRATION=true

Add and authorize the connector once, then set both variables to false (or remove them) and restart Roster. The registered client remains stored in the Roster database. Do not leave unauthenticated registration enabled on an unrestricted public deployment.

Roster derives the MCP OAuth resource URI automatically as ${ROSTER_AUTH_URL}/mcp.

Grant the user scopes that match the workflows Claude should perform. For read-only routing:

mcp:resolve mcp:resolve-requests:read mcp:projects:read mcp:participants:read

Add Roster Connector

In Claude Desktop, Claude.ai, or Cowork, add Roster as a custom connector from Customize > Connectors:

Name: Roster
Remote MCP server URL: <your-roster-public-url>/mcp

Leave the optional OAuth client fields empty only during the controlled self-registration flow. Otherwise enter the public-client ID supplied by the Roster administrator. Authorize through the Roster OAuth flow. Claude should receive a Roster-issued MCP OAuth token, not an external IdP token such as an Entra ID or Okta token.

Add The Roster Skill

Adding the connector makes Roster tools available, but Claude may not choose Roster for every relevant prompt. Add this small skill so Claude knows that Roster is the source of truth for routing and delegation questions.

In Claude, open Customize > Skills, select Add skill > Create skill > Write skill instructions, and use:

Skill name: Roster

Description:
Use live Roster MCP for approval routing, participant ownership, project membership, labels, delegated contacts, and latest Resolve requests.

Paste this in Instructions:

# Roster

Use the live Roster MCP connector as the source of truth for current
operational routing answers.

Do not reconstruct Roster data from files outside Roster, memory, examples, or previous
answers when the connector is available.

## Workflow

1. For questions like "who should handle this?", "who approves this?", "which
   participant owns this?", or "who is the delegated contact?", call Roster
   `resolve`.
2. For exact checks about projects, participants, labels, delegations, or
   membership, use the matching Roster lookup tools instead of guessing.
3. For latest Resolve history, call `list_resolve_requests`, choose the newest
   relevant request, then call `get_resolve_request` when details are needed.
4. Include active delegations when they affect the selected participants.
5. Return only the fields or contacts the user asked for.

Keep the skill enabled after saving it.

For a shared file, put the same instructions in roster/SKILL.md with this metadata, then upload the folder as a ZIP:

---
name: Roster
description: Use live Roster MCP for approval routing, participant ownership, project membership, labels, delegated contacts, and latest Resolve requests.
---

# Roster

...

On Team and Enterprise plans, owners can share or provision the skill for other users.

Test

Ask Claude:

Use Roster to list the projects I can access.

Then test the resolver:

Use Roster to resolve who should handle vendor security review for Atlas Operations.