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🖥️

Connect to Claude or ChatGPT

Step 2 ~3 minutes

OpenMind is an MCP server: a program on your computer that gives an AI app a set of tools. You tell the app once where to find it, and from then on you just ask questions.

Before you start

  • - A bCourses token, and openmind setup already run
  • - A desktop AI app. The web and mobile versions cannot run a local server — this has to be a program on the same machine

First, get your config

This prints the exact block for every supported app, with the absolute path already filled in. Your token does not appear in it — it stays in your keychain.

$ openmind mcp
Claude Desktop

Open your Claude config file — Settings → Developer → Edit Config will take you straight there, or find it at:

macOS   ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the openmind entry:

claude_desktop_config.json
{
 "mcpServers": {
  "openmind": {
   "command": "/Users/you/.local/bin/openmind-mcp"
  }
 }
}

Then quit Claude completely and reopen it — closing the window is not enough. The path must be absolute; Claude does not inherit your shell's PATH.

Claude Code

One command, no file editing:

$ claude mcp add --scope user openmind -- /Users/you/.local/bin/openmind-mcp

--scope user makes it available in every project. Check it with claude mcp list.

Cursor

Add the same JSON block to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (create the file if it isn't there), then reload Cursor. Settings → MCP will show OpenMind connected with its twelve tools.

ChatGPT desktop

Open Settings → MCP servers → Add server, choose STDIO, and enter the command openmind mcp printed. Save and restart. See the official OpenAI MCP guide for current desktop configuration. Verify availability in your host before proceeding.

Who can use this

OpenMind is for a UC Berkeley student running their own copy on their own machine with their own bCourses access token — which is what personal access tokens are for. Your token is never shared, collected, pooled, or sent anywhere except bCourses; there is no OpenMind server to send it to, and no OpenMind account exists. If you want a friend to use it, they install it themselves and generate their own token. Never hand yours over, and never run one instance on someone else’s behalf. Canvas asks applications that operate on behalf of other people to use OAuth; this one operates only on behalf of the person who installed it. The maintainer will ask Berkeley Research, Teaching, and Learning for guidance on personal-token use and follow whatever comes back.

Check that it worked

Ask your app:

You → What's due this week?

You should get your real deadlines with priorities. If the app says it has no such tool, restart it — an AI app only reads its MCP config at launch.

If something is off

Run openmind doctor first. It checks your Python version, the keychain, whether the token still works, your time zone, whether each course is reachable, and the catalog — and names what to fix.

The app doesn't see any tools
Restart it completely. Check the path in the config is absolute and that the file exists.
"Your bCourses token is invalid or expired"
Generate a new token in bCourses and run openmind setup again.
macOS asks for Keychain access after an upgrade
Allow it. Upgrading replaces the Python interpreter, so macOS sees a new program asking for the same secret.
"OpenMind is not set up yet"
The server is connected but has no config. Run openmind setup, then restart the app.
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