Grok MCP: Bring Your Own MCP Server to Grok
Grok connects to custom MCP servers, and xAI calls the feature Bring Your Own MCP. It sits at grok.com/connectors in the web app, and it accepts any MCP server URL that Grok can actually reach. That last clause carries more weight than it looks, and it is where most first attempts fail.
Adding a custom MCP server to Grok
- Go to grok.com/connectors.
- Click New Connector, then select Custom.
- Enter the MCP server URL and complete any authentication the server requires.
On Grok Business and Enterprise, a team admin has to provision the connector in the cloud console first, before anyone in the organization can use it. If you are on a company account and the option looks inert, that provisioning step is usually the reason rather than anything wrong with your server.
Your server has to be on the public internet
xAI states the requirement directly: the MCP server must be reachable over the public internet, and a server running on your own machine needs a tunneling service to be exposed through a public URL.
The transport you chose decides which tunnel works. A server speaking the newer Streamable HTTP transport works fine through Cloudflare. A server on the older SSE transport does not, and xAI points at ngrok for that case. Picking the wrong tunnel for your transport produces a connector that saves and then fails on every call, which reads like an authentication problem and is not one.
A server already hosted publicly over HTTPS skips this section entirely.
Grok Build reuses what you already configured
If you use Grok’s coding surface, MCP servers you configured for Claude Code carry over with no reconfiguration. Whatever you wired up for GitHub, Linear, Slack, an internal database, or CI is available there as-is. That is a genuinely nice property and it is easy to miss, because nothing in the web app hints at it.
The API side is separate again: remote MCP tools are supported through the xAI native SDK, the OpenAI-compatible Responses API, and the Speech to Speech API, configured in the tools array of a request rather than in any settings screen.
What MCP adds to Grok, and what it does not
MCP has no trigger and no scheduler. Its own Triggers and Events working group opens by conceding that clients find out about server-side changes by polling, and that work is still listed as on the horizon rather than shipped. Carly supplies the missing half: connect it and the workflows that start on an event run behind whatever assistant you already use.
Worth separating two things that get confused. Grok’s own automations can react to certain events, which puts it ahead of assistants that only run on a clock. MCP is not what provides that. The protocol itself has no scheduler and no event mechanism, so a custom connector you add is strictly something Grok calls during a conversation.
So the connector broadens what Grok can reach. It does not make anything start on its own.
Give Grok a connector that starts on its own
Carly is a remote MCP server that holds your accounts and runs workflows on real events, covering the half the protocol leaves out.
- Add your accounts to Carly. Sign in at carlyassistant.com, open Integrations, find the service, click Connect, and authorize. Click Connect again for the next one and keep going for as many as you want. Carly connects to thousands of apps, so mail, calendars, files, and your CRM all sit behind the same connector.
- Add Carly to Grok. Go to grok.com/connectors, click New Connector, choose Custom, and enter
https://carlyassistant.com/mcp/. It is a public HTTPS endpoint, so there is no tunneling to set up and no transport mismatch to debug. - Ask across all of it. One conversation reaches every account you connected, and the workflows behind it keep running when Grok is closed.
Free Zapier-style workflows; AI agents from $35/month. Connecting Carly costs nothing.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Grok support MCP?
Yes. xAI calls it Bring Your Own MCP. You add a custom connector at grok.com/connectors by choosing New Connector, then Custom, and pasting the MCP server URL.
Why won’t my local MCP server connect to Grok?
Because Grok reaches your server over the public internet. A local server needs a tunnel: Cloudflare works for Streamable HTTP, and xAI recommends ngrok for servers still on SSE.
Can I add a custom connector on Grok Business?
Not directly. A team admin must provision the connector in the cloud console first, after which it becomes available to members of the organization.
Do MCP servers configured for Claude Code work with Grok?
In Grok Build, yes. Servers you already configured for Claude Code work with no reconfiguration.
Can a Grok MCP connector react to a new email or a new record?
No. MCP has no event mechanism, so the connector answers when Grok calls it. Carly is what watches and acts on arrival.
More: Grok limits · Claude MCP · ChatGPT MCP · Connect multiple Outlook accounts to Grok · MCP servers: the complete list
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