How to: Connect Claude Code to your Panelica server in 60 seconds

[admin]

Get Claude Code talking to your panel​

Quick walkthrough for anyone who wants to try the Panelica MCP server with Claude Code specifically. No prior MCP experience needed.

Step 1 — Create an API key

In your panel, go to Developer → API and create a new key. You'll see a scope picker with 50 scopes and a live search box — nothing is preselected, so pick only what you actually need for this session. Starting with read-only scopes is a good default if you're just exploring.

Save the key and secret shown after creation. The secret is only shown once — it never touches our servers again after that, and all API calls are signed with HMAC-SHA256, so it doesn't get sent in plaintext either.

Step 2 — Add the MCP server to Claude Code

One command:

claude mcp add panelica \
  -e PANELICA_BASE_URL=https://your-panel:8443/api/external \
  -e PANELICA_API_KEY=pk_... \
  -e PANELICA_API_SECRET=sk_... \
  -- npx -y panelica-mcp

Replace your-panel:8443 with your actual panel address, and drop in the key/secret from Step 1.

Step 3 — Ask it something

Open Claude Code in any project and just talk to it about your server:

List my domains and tell me which ones don't have SSL yet.

If it can see your domains and answer accurately, you're connected.

Notes

• This runs the MCP server locally via npx — nothing is installed permanently on your machine unless you want it to be (Docker option exists too, see the announcement thread)
• Your panel needs to be reachable from wherever Claude Code is running. If your panel is on a private network, run Claude Code from a machine that can reach it
• You can add/remove scopes on the key at any time from Developer → API without touching the MCP config

That's the whole setup. If you hit an error, paste it here and we'll help sort it out.