Guide

n8n MCP Client Tool: Connect n8n to a Remote MCP Server

Published Sep 29, 2026 · Updated Sep 29, 2026 · 5 min read

To connect n8n to an MCP server, add n8n's built-in MCP Client Tool node to an AI Agent, set the transport to HTTP Streamable, and paste in the server's URL and API key. That lets your workflow's agent call any remote MCP server as a tool. This guide uses a hosted MCPifex server as the example.

Step by step

Add a Chat Trigger and AI Agent. Add a Chat Trigger node and an AI Agent node to the workflow, then connect the trigger to the agent.
Attach the MCP Client Tool node. On the AI Agent node, add a tool and pick MCP Client Tool from the list.
Choose HTTP Streamable transport. Set Server Transport to HTTP Streamable. The older SSE transport is deprecated but still selectable for legacy servers.
Set the endpoint URL. Set the endpoint field to the server's URL, for example https://mcpifex.com/mcp. It is labeled Endpoint on node version 1.1 and later, and SSE Endpoint on the original version.
Set Bearer authentication. Set Authentication to Bearer Auth and paste the server's API key into the credential's Token field.
Pick which tools to include. Under Tools to Include, choose All, Selected or All Except to control which tools the agent can see.
Test from the chat panel. Save the node and message the workflow from n8n's chat panel to confirm the agent can list and call tools.

Which "n8n MCP" do you mean?

The phrase covers two unrelated things. This guide is about the first.

n8n as an MCP client. Your workflow has an AI Agent, and the agent needs to reach an external remote MCP server: a database, an analytics API, or a gateway in front of several servers.
n8n as an MCP server. You want Claude or another assistant to build and run n8n workflows. That is a different project, such as n8n's own MCP server or the community czlonkowski/n8n-mcp package, and it isn't covered here.

Set up the MCP Client Tool node

Here is the whole setup, using the MCPifex gateway as the server:

Add a Chat Trigger node and an AI Agent node, and connect the trigger to the agent.
On the AI Agent node, add a tool and pick MCP Client Tool.
Set Server Transport to HTTP Streamable. That is the transport the MCP specification defines. The older SSE option is deprecated but still selectable.
Set the endpoint to https://mcpifex.com/mcp. The field is labeled Endpoint on node version 1.1 and later, and SSE Endpoint on the original version.
Set Authentication to Bearer Auth and paste your API key into the credential's Token field. MCPifex keys start with mcpx_. Header Auth, Multiple Headers and OAuth2 are also available for other servers.
Under Tools to Include, choose All, Selected or All Except to control which tools the agent sees.
Save the credential and the node, then message the workflow from the chat panel. Ask the agent to list or call a tool.

If your n8n setup can't put a custom header on the request, put the key in the URL path instead and set Authentication to None: https://mcpifex.com/mcp/<YOUR_MCPX_KEY>. Use the Bearer form when you can, because a key in a URL is easier to leak into logs.

Built-in node or community package?

Two different things call themselves MCP client tooling in n8n. Mixing them up causes the "Unrecognized node type" error.

MCP Client Tool and the standalone MCP Client node ship with n8n. There is nothing to install. This guide uses MCP Client Tool.
n8n-nodes-mcp (nerding-io/n8n-nodes-mcp on GitHub) is a third-party community node. It must be installed as a community package, and it only works as an AI Agent tool when the instance has N8N_COMMUNITY_PACKAGES_ALLOW_TOOL_USAGE=true set.

If your workflow already has an AI Agent and you just need to call an MCP server over the network, use the built-in node.

Troubleshooting

The node keeps sending SSE-style GET requests. In January 2026, n8n issue #24967 reported that choosing HTTP Streamable is sometimes ignored. The reported workaround: switch Server Transport to Expression mode, set the value to the literal string httpStreamable, save, and restart n8n. Picking the option again from the dropdown does not help. HTTP Streamable arrived in n8n 1.104.0 through PR #15454, so this affects that version onward.
401 from the gateway. The key is missing, mistyped or revoked. Recheck the Token field on the credential.
The agent sees no tools, or fewer than you expect. Check Tools to Include on the node. Then check which tools are enabled for the instance in the portal.
You can't tell whether n8n or the key is at fault. Run the raw handshake from the quickstart. If it lists tools, the key and endpoint are fine and the problem is in the node's settings.

One credential, several data sources

MCPifex fronts its hosted servers with one gateway URL. In n8n, that means one MCP Client Tool credential can reach a PostgreSQL query tool, a Google Search Console reporting tool and a Google Trends research tool. Each is an instance you create in the portal with its own list of enabled tools. Write tools start off, and the gateway refuses anything you haven't enabled.

See instances and tools for how that works and API keys and authentication for the key. Registering is free and needs no card.