Glean MCP Server – Enterprise Search for AI Agents
Glean provides a fully managed MCP server built into each Glean instance so AI hosts can use Glean's enterprise search, chat, document retrieval, agents, and configured external tools. It is useful when an AI assistant needs company-specific context from connected workplace systems while preserving Glean's user-level permissions.
Overview
Glean's MCP server connects MCP-compatible AI hosts to a Glean deployment. Instead of querying one SaaS app at a time, an assistant can use Glean's permission-aware knowledge graph to search across connected enterprise sources, retrieve documents, ask contextual questions, and use approved Glean tools from the user's normal AI workspace.
What the MCP server enables
A Glean MCP server can expose Glean platform tools, Glean agents, and external tools configured through the Glean MCP Gateway. Glean documents its own MCP tools as including Search, Chat, Read Document, Code Search, and People. Admins can also expose Glean agents as tools and connect external MCP servers, data source tools, or custom tools through the gateway.
The practical value is enterprise context with access control. Search results, document reads, and answers are grounded in the content the current user is allowed to access in Glean, so the assistant can help with debugging, PR review context, product research, support triage, sales preparation, operations questions, and other work-specific tasks.
When to use it
Use Glean MCP when an assistant needs internal context across many connected systems: documents, tickets, people records, code, Slack-like discussions, project history, or other indexed workplace content. It is especially useful in MCP hosts such as Cursor, VS Code, Claude Desktop, ChatGPT, Codex CLI, and other supported or MCP-compliant clients where users want to stay in their current workflow.
Connection and authentication
Glean's recommended deployment is the fully managed remote MCP server built into a Glean instance. Administrators first enable the Glean OAuth Authorization Server, then enable Glean MCP server in the Admin Console. End users retrieve host-specific setup from the MCP Configurator under their Glean settings.
Glean recommends OAuth 2.1 Authorization Code with PKCE, including dynamic client registration when the host supports it. For hosts that require manual configuration, users copy their tenant-specific MCP server URL, documented in the form https://tenant_id-be.glean.com/mcp/[your-mcp-server-name]. Some stdio-only hosts cannot connect directly to remote HTTP MCP servers; Glean documents using a bridge such as mcp-remote in those cases. User-scoped Client API tokens are documented as a fallback for hosts without OAuth or for testing, and require the MCP, AGENT, SEARCH, CHAT, DOCUMENTS, TOOLS, and ENTITIES scopes.
Key considerations
The server must be enabled by a Glean administrator before users can connect. Results remain constrained by Glean permissions and by the connectors, agents, and tools the organization has enabled. The public local Glean MCP server repository is primarily for experimental and testing use; Glean recommends the managed remote server for normal use because it receives automatic updates and simpler configuration. Usage may be subject to Glean usage-based pricing and applicable supplemental terms.
Supported Transports
streamable_http
URL: https://tenant_id-be.glean.com/mcp/${GLEAN_MCP_SERVER_NAME}
stdio
Command: npx
Args:
-ymcp-remotehttps://tenant_id-be.glean.com/mcp/${GLEAN_MCP_SERVER_NAME}
Frequently Asked Questions
- When should an AI agent use the Glean MCP server?
- Use it when an assistant needs permission-aware company context from Glean, such as internal search, document retrieval, contextual Q&A, code history, PR review context, support triage information, sales account research, or operations knowledge inside an MCP-compatible host.
- What does Glean MCP add to an AI agent's capabilities?
- It gives the agent access to Glean's permission-aware knowledge graph and configured MCP tools, including documented Glean tools such as Search, Chat, Read Document, Code Search, and People, plus approved agents or gateway tools when administrators expose them.
- What can the AI agent access through this server?
- The agent can access only the Glean tools, Glean agents, custom tools, external MCP servers, or data source tools enabled for that MCP server and permitted for the user. Glean enforces user-level access control over enterprise content surfaced through search, chat, and document retrieval.
- How is authentication configured for Glean MCP?
- Glean recommends enabling the Glean OAuth Authorization Server and using OAuth 2.1 Authorization Code with PKCE. MCP hosts authenticate users through the organization's SSO and receive OAuth tokens from Glean. User-scoped Client API tokens are a fallback for hosts without OAuth or for testing, with documented scopes including MCP, AGENT, SEARCH, CHAT, DOCUMENTS, TOOLS, and ENTITIES.
- Which transport should be used for Glean MCP?
- Use the managed remote HTTP MCP server URL from the Glean MCP Configurator whenever the host can connect directly to remote MCP servers. For stdio-only hosts that cannot connect directly over HTTP, use a bridge such as `mcp-remote` with the same tenant-specific Glean MCP URL.