Using the Crunch MCP

Introduction

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems.

The Crunch MCP exposes the Crunch API to AI agents enabling users to use their own LLM-driven tool-calling environments for querying and analyzing Crunch data. MCP works as an interface adapter focused on optimizing user workflows.

Configuring Agents

Most Agents/MCP clients require the following URL as part of their setup instructions.

https://connect.crunch.io/mcp/

See below for the use case that matches your client.

Using the Claude Desktop App

For the latest Claude setup instructions, please refer to Claude Documentation for details on how to setup connectors in the Claude Desktop App. The Crunch MCP can be added as a custom connector using the URL above. Your Claude plan will dictate how you configure the MCP.

Crunch is working on registering the MCP with the Claude Connector market place to simplify setup - Watch this space!

If you are unable to setup the desktop app, contact support@crunch.io

Using Developer Tools (Claude CLI, VSCode, Cursor etc.)

Standard Configurations

IDE Plugins or CLI tools can use the default URL in their Plugin configuration page or CLI and they will authenticate with SSO (OAuth). Thats it!

https://connect.crunch.io/mcp/

For example, the Claude CLI command would be:

claude mcp add --transport http crunch https://connect.crunch.io/mcp/

Custom Configurations Using an API Key

Some use cases prefer not to use OAuth to authenticate - for example, using a service account to build an AI pipeline. In such situations, the Crunch MCP supports using an API key and a custom header. Contact support@crunch.io or your account manager to request a key with MCP permissions.

After you have received your API key, configure your agent with the URL for your accounts subdomain and the custom header "X-Crunch-Api-Token". Claude is used as an example below.

Using the CLI

claude mcp add --transport http crunch \
  https://<your-org-subdomain>.crunch.io/mcp/ \
  --header "X-Crunch-Api-Token: <your-api-key>"

Manually Edit Configuration

An example entry in your Claude configuration file would look like:

      ...
      "mcpServers": {
          "crunch": {
              "type": "http",
              "url": "https://<your-org-subdomain>.crunch.io/mcp/",
              "headers": {
                "X-Crunch-Api-Token": "<your-api-key>"
              }
          }
      },
      ...

Reference: Claude MCP Documentation

Using Crunch MCP

Once you have the MCP configured in your agent, check it is successfully connected (e.g. using /mcp in Claude).

To explore datasets in Crunch, you must ask the LLM to operate on the specific dataset URL or ID. For example, you might want to list demographic variables in dataset test-dataset.

using crunch, list demographic variables in dataset https://<your-org-subdomain>.crunch.io/dataset/ab12cdef

You can ask Crunch to create data tables e.g.

using crunch, show me tv show awareness segmented by gender

The MCP will request you provide the dataset URL if you do not provide it as this example shows.

I'll need your Crunch dataset URL. It should look something like:

  https://<subdomain>.crunch.io/dataset/<dataset_id>/

Have fun exploring your data with natural language!

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