--- title: "AI Activate - Connecting an MCP client that does not support DCR" slug: "ai-activate-connecting-nodcr" description: "Learn how to manually register an MCP client without automatic DCR to connect to the Nasuni AI Activate server using OAuth for secure authentication." updated: 2026-10-01T17:14:09Z published: 2026-10-01T17:14:09Z canonical: "docs.nasuni.com/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr" --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.nasuni.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # AI Activate - Connecting an MCP client that does not support DCR ## Overview This document describes how to connect an MCP client that does **not** support automatic Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) to the Nasuni AI Activate MCP server. Clients with built-in DCR support (such as Claude and ChatGPT) register themselves automatically and do not require any of these steps. Clients that expect a pre-registered Client ID must first complete a one-time manual registration. This procedure applies to any MCP client that lacks automatic DCR. ## Background: How OAuth Works in this Setup The AI Activate MCP server is secured using OAuth. When an OAuth client (such as Claude, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Foundry) wants to authenticate, that client must register with the MCP server first. Registration tells the MCP server which redirect URIs are allowed for that client. If a redirect URI is not on the allowlist, the MCP server rejects the redirect URI during authorization. ### Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) DCR is an OAuth feature that lets an MCP client register itself automatically by calling a `/register` endpoint at connection time. AI Activate supports DCR. Therefore, clients with built-in DCR support (such as Claude and ChatGPT) connect without any manual configuration. Some clients (Microsoft Foundry, for example) expect a statically pre-registered client, meaning a Client ID that you enter manually. For those clients, perform the registration step one time, before configuring the connection. The procedure below is that manual registration. ## Manual Registration Procedure The manual registration procedure has four steps: 1. Discover the OAuth endpoints from the server metadata. 2. Obtain your client’s redirect URI. 3. Register the client by calling the registration endpoint. 4. Enter the returned Client ID into your client’s configuration. The sections below provide complete instructions for [Step 1](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-1-discover-the-oauth-endpoints) and [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client), which are identical for every client. [Step 2](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-2-obtain-your-clients-redirect-uri) and [Step 4](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-4-configure-the-client) depend on the client, so see your client-specific guide for the exact fields and screens. ### Step 1: Discover the OAuth Endpoints Nasuni AI Activate exposes the OAuth metadata at a standard well-known URL. 1. Start with the AI Activate MCP endpoint: `https://mcp.nasuni.com` 2. Append `/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server` 3. Open the resulting URL in a browser to retrieve the metadata: `https://mcp.nasuni.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server` Sample response: {"issuer": "https://mcp.nasuni.com", "authorization_endpoint": "https://account.nasuni.com/authorize", "token_endpoint": "https://mcp.nasuni.com/token", "jwks_uri": "https://account.nasuni.com/jwks.json", "registration_endpoint": "https://mcp.nasuni.com/register", "response_types_supported": ["code"], "response_modes_supported": ["query"], "grant_types_supported": ["authorization_code", "refresh_token"], "token_endpoint_auth_methods_supported": ["client_secret_basic", "client_secret_post", "none"], "code_challenge_methods_supported": ["plain", "S256"]}Save the response. The values that you need in later steps are: | Value | Metadata field | Current value | | --- | --- | --- | | MCP server endpoint | issuer | `https://mcp.nasuni.com` | | Authorization URL | authorization_endpoint | `https://account.nasuni.com/authorize` | | Token URL | token_endpoint | `https://mcp.nasuni.com/token` | | Registration endpoint | registration_endpoint | `https://mcp.nasuni.com/register` | > ***Note****: The values above might vary, based on the environment that your account is connected to. Because the values can change between environments, always read the values from the live metadata response rather than hard-coding the values.* ### Step 2: Obtain Your Client’s Redirect URI Every OAuth client has a redirect URI (sometimes called a callback URL). In [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client), register the redirect URI with the server. Obtain the redirect URI from your client’s MCP connection configuration. Clients provide the redirect URI in different ways: - Some clients display the redirect URI when you start configuring a connection. - Other clients (Microsoft Foundry, for example) do not reveal the redirect URI until you save an initial configuration with a placeholder Client ID. See your client-specific guide for the exact procedure. Have the redirect URI in hand before continuing to [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client). ### Step 3: Register the Client Make a POST request to the registration endpoint (registration_endpoint) from [Step 1](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-1-discover-the-oauth-endpoints), supplying your client’s redirect URI from [Step 2](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-2-obtain-your-clients-redirect-uri). Replace `<registration_endpoint>` with the value from [Step 1](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-1-discover-the-oauth-endpoints), and `<client_redirect_uri>` with your client’s actual redirect URI. ```bash curl -X POST \  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \  -d '{    "redirect_uris": [""],    "token_endpoint_auth_method": "none",    "grant_types": ["authorization_code", "refresh_token"],    "response_types": ["code"],    "client_name": "Example MCP Client"  }' ``` ```powershell curl.exe -X POST `  -H "Content-Type: application/json" `  -d '{"redirect_uris": [""], "token_endpoint_auth_method": "none", "grant_types": ["authorization_code", "refresh_token"], "response_types": ["code"], "client_name": "Example MCP Client"}' ``` Notes on the request body: - `redirect_uris` must contain the exact redirect URI that your client uses. If the value does not match the client redirect URI byte for byte, the authorization flow fails later. - Set `token_endpoint_auth_method` to none, because MCP clients register as public clients that use PKCE for authentication. The server registers the client as public even if you request a different method. Note that the registration response still includes a client_secret. Clients with built-in DCR support do not need the client_secret, but some manually configured clients require a Client Secret in their connection settings. If the client requires a Client Secret, use the client_secret from the response. See your client-specific guide. - `client_name` is a human-readable label for your own reference. Set `client_name` to something that identifies the client you are registering. A successful response is a JSON body containing the new `client_id` and `client_secret`: ```json {  "client_id": "9e246c84-44e0-4d86-8b8a-9b5a39c94a6e",  "client_secret": "",  "redirect_uris": ["https://your-client.example.com/oauth/callback"],  "client_name": "Example MCP Client",  "grant_types": ["authorization_code", "refresh_token"],  "response_types": ["code"],  "require_pkce": true,  "registration_token": "",  "token_endpoint_auth_method": "none" } ``` The response also includes a registration_token, which you do not need for this procedure. Whether you need the client_secret depends on your client (see [Step 4](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-4-configure-the-client)). ### Step 4: Configure the Client In your MCP client, create or edit the MCP connection and supply the values from [Step 1](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-1-discover-the-oauth-endpoints) and [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client). The exact field names differ by client, so see your client-specific guide. The values you need are: | Setting | Value | | --- | --- | | MCP server endpoint | `https://mcp.nasuni.com` | | Client ID | `client_id` returned in [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client) | | Client Secret | If your client has a Client Secret field, enter the client_secret returned in [Step 3](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-3-register-the-client). Clients with built-in DCR support do not need the Client Secret. All clients use PKCE. | | Token URL | `https://mcp.nasuni.com/token` | | Refresh URL | `https://mcp.nasuni.com/token` | | Authorization URL | `https://account.nasuni.com/authorize` | | Scopes | none (leave blank) | Save the configuration and complete the OAuth sign-in when prompted. > ## *Notes* > > - *The server registers the client as a public client that uses PKCE. The registration response includes a client_secret; some clients require the client_secret (see* [*Step 4*](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-4-configure-the-client)*) and others do not require the client_secret.* > - *Each distinct redirect URI requires its own registration. If a client’s redirect URI changes, register again to get a Client ID bound to the new URI.* > - *Any MCP client that does not support automatic DCR follows this same procedure. Only* [*Step 2*](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-2-obtain-your-clients-redirect-uri) *and* [*Step 4*](/v1/docs/ai-activate-connecting-nodcr#step-4-configure-the-client) *differ by client.*