Set up Parallel MCP

Configure and verify authenticated Parallel MCP connections. The first supported setup path is Parallel Search MCP through Bifrost; the steps below apply to that path. Tool descriptions supplied by the MCP server govern search and fetch usage; this skill covers installation and gateway configuration.

1. Inspect the deployment

Identify the target Bifrost instance, its configuration source (dashboard or config.json), and the intended downstream agent or virtual key. Inspect existing MCP clients before changing anything; update the matching Parallel connection instead of adding duplicates. Preserve unrelated clients, access rules, and tool approval settings.

Confirm access to Bifrost management and a Parallel account credential. These are separate from the downstream agent's Bifrost credential. If access or a secret is missing, prepare the configuration and report what is needed without claiming installation succeeded. Keep secrets in the deployment's secret manager or environment; never put them in skill files, source control, prompts, or tool arguments.

2. Configure the authenticated connection

Use https://search.parallel.ai/mcp-oauth, which requires authentication. Choose Headers auth for a shared Parallel API key, or Bifrost's OAuth flow when that is the deployment's chosen authentication method. Do not change an authentication failure into an unauthenticated connection.

For shared-key configuration, provision PARALLEL_MCP_AUTHORIZATION in the Bifrost server environment with the complete value Bearer <Parallel API key>. The env. reference substitutes the whole header value; it does not prepend Bearer.

In MCP Gateway → New MCP Server, choose HTTP, the URL above, and Headers auth. Set Authorization to the environment-variable reference using the UI's env-var picker. Allow web_search and web_fetch for this connection.

For a file-managed deployment, merge this client entry into the existing mcp.client_configs array: