MCP Clients vs MCP Server — which tab do I want?
1 min
Two AI sub-tabs, opposite directions. MCP Clients = Avery calls OUT to other tools. MCP Server = other apps call IN to Avery.
MCP has two roles — client and server — and Avery can be either, so Settings → AI has two tabs:
• MCP Clients — Avery acts as a CLIENT, connecting OUT to third-party MCP servers (GitHub, Linear, Postgres, Brave Search, …). Use this when you want YOUR agents to call someone else's tools. You add an mcp-server connector, then connect it here; the server's tools show up in the agent builder palette.
• MCP Server — Avery acts as a SERVER, letting external MCP hosts (Claude Desktop, Cursor, Continue, Zed, ChatGPT) connect IN. Use this when you want an outside AI app to run YOUR Avery agents. You enable the server, copy the connection snippet + bearer token into the host, and tick which agents to expose.
Rule of thumb: 'I want Avery to use X' → MCP Clients. 'I want X to use Avery' → MCP Server.
Live recipes need the desktop
This article is a static preview. The in-app Help sidecar inside Avery NXR can fire each step against your live project — install the desktop to use it interactively.