The Old Ways Library MCP server

Endpoint: https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp · Authentication: No auth

Public, read-only search and cited passages from historical editions and mythology reference pages across five traditions. No account or API key required.

Test it live Run the release-readiness report

How do I authenticate?

Add the endpoint directly in your client. The catalog records no authentication requirement; no OAuth sign-in or API key is configured in this setup. The live server may change.

Authentication and connection guide

Connection specification

Remote endpoint: https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp
Browser access: Not yet measured
Declared MCP transport: Streamable HTTP
Live-validated MCP transport: Streamable HTTP — Observed by the latest catalog validation
Declared authentication: No authentication
Detected authentication: No authentication detected or retained from publisher evidence
Protocol lifecycle: Stateful MCP · 2025-11-25
Category: Reference

Product documentation · Official MCP Registry record

Provider guidance

Historical editions may contain transcription errors. Reference summaries are editorial aids; source links do not verify each claim.

More Reference MCP servers · Browse all MCP servers · Test this endpoint in the MCP Playground

Authorization setup

No app registration needed

This catalog entry does not require authorization or provider app registration.

Connect it

Live-validated endpoint: https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp · Streamable HTTP. No authentication is required by the catalog listing.

Agent prompt for Claude Code or Codex

Add the The Old Ways Library MCP server to my MCP client configuration and verify that it works.

What it is: Public, read-only search and cited passages from historical editions and mythology reference pages across five traditions. No account or API key required.
Server URL: https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp
Transport: Streamable HTTP (remote MCP server, no local install).
Authentication: none. The server accepts connections without credentials.
Tools (3, as last observed by mcptest): list_collections, read_page, search_library.
Reference: https://mcptest.io/servers/the-old-ways/

Steps:
1. Work out which MCP client I use (Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, VS Code or another) and add the server under the name "the-old-ways" in that client's MCP configuration, user scope unless I ask otherwise.
   Claude Code: claude mcp add --transport http --scope user 'the-old-ways' 'https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp'
   Codex: codex mcp add 'the-old-ways' --url 'https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp'
   Other clients: use the setup for that client on the reference page.
2. Never write a credential value into a file that could be committed; reference an environment variable or the client's secret store, and ask me for any value you need.
3. Verify: connect to the server and call tools/list. Confirm the tools above are listed, and report any sign-in step I still have to complete.

Claude Code setup

Run in a terminal. This user-scoped entry is available across projects.

claude mcp add --transport http --scope user 'the-old-ways' 'https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp'

Codex CLI setup

Run in a terminal; Codex stores the entry in ~/.codex/config.toml.

codex mcp add 'the-old-ways' --url 'https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp'

Cursor setup

Add to .cursor/mcp.json for this project, or ~/.cursor/mcp.json for all projects.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "the-old-ways": {
      "url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

VS Code setup

Add to .vscode/mcp.json, or run “MCP: Open User Configuration” for a private user-level entry.

{
  "servers": {
    "the-old-ways": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Claude setup

Add the endpoint above in Claude:

Customize > Connectors > Add custom connector
Team/Enterprise: Organization settings > Connectors > Add > Custom > Web

Claude Desktop setup

Add the endpoint above in Claude Desktop:

Remote: Customize > Connectors (same as claude.ai)
Local: Settings > Developer > Edit Config, or Settings > Extensions for .mcpb files
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows), local servers only

ChatGPT setup

Add the endpoint above in ChatGPT:

ChatGPT web: Plugins > Add custom MCP server, then configure authentication and accept the risk warning

Windsurf setup

Add the endpoint above in Windsurf:

~/.config/devin/mcp_config.json (%APPDATA%\devin\mcp_config.json on Windows), serverUrl or url
Cascade panel > ... > MCPs > Open MCP config file

Gemini CLI setup

Add the endpoint above in Gemini CLI:

gemini mcp add --transport http <name> <url>
~/.gemini/settings.json (user) or .gemini/settings.json (project), mcpServers

MCP SDK setup

Add the endpoint above in MCP SDK:

Programmatic: new Client(...).connect(new StreamableHTTPClientTransport(url))

Notes for every client

Provider guidance: Historical editions may contain transcription errors. Reference summaries are editorial aids; source links do not verify each claim.

Client compatibility

Client	Status	Why
Claude Code	Supported	Claude Code supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
Codex	Partial	Codex's documentation does not state support for servers without authentication. Codex CLI ignores resources: The server can still connect, but Codex CLI does not consume the advertised resources capability.
Cursor	Supported	Cursor supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
VS Code	Supported	VS Code supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
Claude	Supported	Claude supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
Claude Desktop	Supported	Claude Desktop supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
ChatGPT	Partial	ChatGPT ignores resources: The server can still connect, but ChatGPT does not consume the advertised resources capability. Stateful routing needs operational care: ChatGPT can preserve MCP sessions, but the deployment must route a session consistently and retain its state.
Windsurf	Partial	Windsurf's documentation does not state support for servers without authentication.
Gemini CLI	Supported	Gemini CLI supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.
MCP SDK	Supported	MCP SDK supports Streamable HTTP servers and servers without authentication.

Computed from this server's validated transport, protocol and authentication against documented client support. Checks the catalog has not observed are not counted.

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Guides for this server

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Latest validation evidence

Validation status: Online when last tested
Validation checked at: Oct 26, 2026 at 7:51 PM
Validation detail: Negotiated stateful MCP 2025-11-25 at https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp; detected transport streamable-http; authentication none

Tool inventory

What the catalog validator observed on Oct 26, 2026 at https://mcp.theoldways.co/mcp without credentials. The live server may have changed since; connect in the Playground for the current list.

Tools provided by The Old Ways Library 3

list_collectionsNo outputSchema
List available book landing pages, traditions, content types, index-build timestamp and the source policy before exploring The Old Ways. Index-build time is not the publication date of a historical text.
Input No parameters
read_pageNo outputSchema
Read a bounded text excerpt from an indexed public theoldways.co page. Supply a canonical URL or path returned by search_library. Returns a citation URL, edition/source note, text and nextOffset for continuation. Never accesses arbitrary websites, private accounts or the live app. Imported historical editions can contain transcription errors; editorial summaries are not passage-level source verification.
Input length?: integer, offset?: integer, url: string
- length?: integeroptional
- offset?: integeroptional
- url: stringrequired
search_libraryNo outputSchema
Search the Old Ways historical-text and mythology reference collection: Norse, Greek/Hellenic, Egyptian/Kemetic, Celtic and Zoroastrian writings, glossary, deity profiles and explanatory questions. Returns canonical citation URLs and short previews from a prebuilt lexical index. Not web search or verification of historical claims. Use read_page to examine the passage and recorded edition details. Known malformed and noindex pages are excluded.
Input kind?: string, limit?: integer, query: string, tradition?: string
- kind?: stringoptional
- limit?: integeroptional
- query: stringrequired
- tradition?: stringoptional

Resources 2

reading-guidetext/plain
Old Ways first-reading guide
source-policytext/plain
Old Ways source and editorial policy