Connection & API keys

Atlas runs as a hosted service — you connect to it over an endpoint, authenticated with an API key. Here's how to create a key, scope it, and wire it into your MCP client.

Stuck on any of this? The Ask the docs assistant in the bottom-right corner is grounded in these pages and can walk you through the setup.

API keys

Open Settings → API keys in the dashboard and hit New key. Give it a name, choose the project it should reach, and copy the value — it's shown once and looks like atlas_sk_…. A key grants read access to its project's graph and audits; revoke or rotate it from the same screen whenever you need.

Keep keys secret — never commit them. Put them in your editor's MCP config or an environment variable, not in source control.

Endpoint

Everything talks to the hosted API at https://api.atlas.dev. The MCP server and the dashboard both default to it — there's nothing to configure.

MCP environment

The variables the @atlas/mcp server reads from its env block:

ATLAS_API_KEY	Required. The project-scoped key you create in Settings → API keys.
ATLAS_AUDIT_INTERVAL_MIN	Optional. Periodic re-audit cadence, default 30. 0 disables it.

See MCP in your editor for the full client config.