Integrations

One catalog of the apps, built-in services and MCP servers your agent and your apps can use.

An integration is anything outside your project’s code that the agent, or the app it builds, can use: an app such as Gmail or Slack, a service built into every session such as PostgreSQL, or an MCP server that adds tools. The Integrations catalog holds all of them in one place, and anything you connect there works in every session you own. To sign in to an app, see Connect an app. For hosted or local MCP servers, see MCP servers. To call your connections from the code the agent writes, see Use integrations in your app.

The catalog opens on Connectors, where each app offers Sign in or Connect.

What counts as an integration?

Each card names its kind with a coloured badge. Built-in services land in the agent’s environment; connectors and MCP servers reach it as tools.

Kind (badge)	What it is	How you connect it	For example
Connector	A ready-made link to an outside app. Each function, such as “Send email”, becomes a tool.	Sign in or Connect on the Connectors tab.	Gmail, Google Calendar, Slack, Jira
Built in	A service in every session’s machine.	Nothing to connect. The agent switches it on.	PostgreSQL, User sign-in
Remote MCP	An MCP server hosted on the web, reached through Alpha.	Sign in or Connect under MCPs → Remote, or add one by its address.	Stripe, Notion, Sentry, Linear
Local MCP	An MCP server that runs as a command inside every session’s machine.	Install under MCPs → Local, or add a command.	Context7, Memory, Sequential thinking

Connector and remote MCP sign-ins never enter a session. Sessions and apps hold only a per-session key, never your password or the app’s own token.

If you don’t see an app or MCP server you expected, it isn’t turned on for your Alpha. An admin chooses which apps and hosted MCP servers the catalog offers.

Browse the catalog

The catalog opens as a large dialog over whatever you are doing. It has no address of its own, so there is no Integrations page to bookmark. There are three ways in:

Way in	What opens
Integrations in the sidebar	The whole catalog. The row’s badge counts what you have connected.
/integrations in a session or on the home screen	The same dialog. /integrations gmail opens it at that entry.
Connect app on a card the agent posts in the transcript, such as Connect Gmail	Only the entry the agent asked for, with its reason. Browse all integrations → opens the rest.

The dialog has three tabs, and each sub-tab shows a count.

Tab	Sub-tabs
Connectors	Connectors (outside apps), Built in and Connected
MCPs	Remote, Local and Connected, with Add server at the right
Connected	None. It lists everything that is on.

Control	What it does
Search	Searches the open tab.
All auth	Narrows the cards to OAuth, API key or No auth.
All categories	Narrows the cards to one category on the open tab, such as “Business tools”.
Refresh	Loads apps and MCP servers afresh, past the copy Alpha keeps for a few minutes.

Cards are sorted A to Z. Click one to open its detail: what it gives the agent and how to connect it.

Read a card

Every card tells you what a thing is, how it signs in and whether it is on.

1. Logo. A server with no mark of its own shows the MCP glyph.
2. Verified. Alpha curated it. Servers you add yourself don’t get the check.
3. Type badge. Connector, Built in, Remote MCP or Local MCP.
4. Auth badge. OAuth (sign in with the app’s own account), API key (paste a key or credentials) or No auth (one click). Built-ins have none.
5. Action or status. See the table below.

Corner reads	Meaning	Click it to
Sign in	Not connected; uses OAuth.	Open the app’s sign-in in a popup, or open its detail first when it needs more from you.
Connect	Not connected; takes a key, extra fields or nothing.	Connect at once, or fill in its form in the detail.
Install	A curated local MCP server.	Install it in every session you own.
Disconnected	A remote server whose access was revoked.	Open its detail to remove it and add it again.
Pill Active, green dot	Connected, or installed and on.	Open its detail to test, disconnect or switch it off.
Pill Off, grey dot	A local server switched off.	Open its detail to switch it on.

When a remote server’s sign-in has expired and can’t be refreshed, its detail reads “Sign in again”. Built-in cards show nothing in the corner, because they are always there.

Use the built-in services

Connectors → Built in lists the six services every session’s machine already has. The agent switches each one on when your project needs it.

Built in: six services, with no sign-in and no button.

Service	What the agent gets	How it’s switched on
PostgreSQL	The session’s own database: DATABASE_URL and the PG* variables.	The agent starts it when your app stores data; the Database tab opens.
User sign-in	Google or email accounts for your app’s users: FORGE_OIDC_ISSUER, FORGE_OIDC_CLIENT_ID, FORGE_OIDC_CLIENT_SECRET.	The agent turns it on when your app needs accounts; the Auth tab opens.
Image generation	Hero images, icons and illustrations from a prompt, saved into the project.	The agent runs Alpha’s image generator. No variables.
Headless browser	Its own Chromium, to check its pages and read the web.	Always on, as browser tools.
Alpha tools	Everything you connected, callable from the agent, your app and its agents: FORGE_TOOLS_URL, FORGE_TOOLS_API_KEY.	Always set, in every shell and published app.
GitHub	An authenticated git and gh: GITHUB_TOKEN, GH_TOKEN.	You connect it in a session’s GitHub tab (+ → GitHub), not here.

Click a built-in to see what the agent works from: a Built into Alpha box, a What the agent gets list of its variables for those that set any, and a collapsed What the agent will follow section. Expand it to read, word for word, the recipe the agent follows for that service.

Where does a connection reach?

A connection belongs to your account, not to one session. Sign in to Gmail once and every session you own can use it.

Where	How it reaches your connections
The agent, in every session you own	As tools in its tool list.
Your app in the Preview	Through the session’s key, in FORGE_TOOLS_URL and FORGE_TOOLS_API_KEY.
Apps you publish	The same two variables, set on the published app.
An app you export and run elsewhere	Paste the two lines from the session’s key into its .env.

Connections belong to your account alone. Other people’s sessions never get them, even when you share a session with them.

When do changes take effect?

Connecting, disconnecting or revoking something updates every running session of yours. If the agent is mid-turn, the change waits for that turn to end, so the new tools arrive with your next message.

Check what’s on

The Connected tab lists every connector you signed in to and every MCP server that is on. Built-in services never appear there. Its count matches the badge on the sidebar’s Integrations row.

With nothing on, the tab reads “Nothing connected yet — sign in to a connector or install an MCP server.”

What if a service isn’t listed?

It still works. Search for it, and when nothing matches the catalog says so: “A service that isn’t here still works as a plain secret — the agent will name the variable.”

Ask the agent to use the service. When it needs a key it posts a card in the transcript, such as “The agent needs HARBOR_WEATHER_API_KEY”, with an Add HARBOR_WEATHER_API_KEY button that saves the key as a secret. The agent then reads it as an environment variable. If the service offers an MCP server, you can also add it yourself under MCPs → Add server, as described in MCP servers.

Never paste a key into the composer. Anything typed in the composer lands in the session’s transcript, and Alpha warns you when your message looks like it holds one. Add keys under Secrets or connect the app here.

Next steps

Connect an app

Sign in with the popup, connect with a key, test a connection and answer the agent’s Connect card.

MCP servers

Install Context7, sign in to Stripe or Notion, or add a server of your own by URL or command.

Use integrations in your app

Find the session’s key, copy its two .env lines and rotate it if it leaks.

Secrets

For a service with no connector: store its key once and every session gets it.