Connect Fine Structure to Zed

Zed calls MCP servers context servers, and it supports remote HTTP servers natively in settings.json. The entry is a name and a url. If you leave out an Authorization header, Zed prompts you to authenticate with the standard MCP OAuth flow, which is exactly what you want with Fine Structure.

Before you start

• A Fine Structure account on the free tier or above.
• A recent Zed build with the agent panel and context servers available.
• Access to your Zed settings file, which you can open with the zed: open settings file command.

Step by step

1. Open the command palette in Zed and run zed: open settings file.
2. Add the context_servers block from the config snippet below, keeping any existing settings intact.
3. Save the file.
4. Let Zed prompt you to authenticate. Zed's docs state that when a remote MCP server has no configured Authorization header, it prompts you to authenticate against the server using the standard MCP OAuth flow.
5. Approve the Fine Structure sign in page.
6. Open the agent panel and ask it to list your Fine Structure apps to confirm the tools arrived.
7. Only if you prefer a fixed credential: create a scoped token in the Fine Structure Studio MCP Server tab and add a headers object with Authorization set to Bearer plus that token. Doing so suppresses the OAuth prompt, because Zed only prompts when no Authorization header is present.

Configuration

{
  "context_servers": {
    "finestructure": {
      "url": "https://finestructure.ai/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

What to watch out for

• The top level key is context_servers, not mcpServers. This is the single most common mistake when adapting an MCP config from another editor to Zed.
• Leaving headers out is the recommended setup here. It is what triggers Zed's OAuth flow, and it means no long lived token sits in your settings file.
• Because Zed handles the sign in itself, this is one of the few editors where the setup is as short as a chat client: two lines and an approval.
• Zed settings are per user rather than per project, so once added, Fine Structure is available in every workspace you open.
• Older guidance on the web recommends proxying remote servers through mcp-remote as a stdio bridge. Zed's own documentation shows native remote url support, so that workaround is not needed.

Questions people ask

Does Zed support remote MCP servers natively, or do I need a proxy?

Natively. Zed's MCP documentation shows a remote context server declared with a url, and describes prompting for the standard MCP OAuth flow when no Authorization header is configured. No stdio bridge is required.

Why is my Zed config being ignored?

Check the top level key. Zed reads context_servers, so a block written as mcpServers is simply not seen. Also confirm the JSON is valid, since one bad comma prevents the whole settings file from loading.

Can I use a token instead of signing in?

Yes, add a headers object with an Authorization Bearer value from the Studio MCP Server tab. Be aware that doing so switches off the OAuth prompt, because Zed only offers it when no Authorization header exists.

Vendor documentation we checked

• https://zed.dev/docs/ai/mcp
• https://finestructure.ai/api/mcp/docs

All platforms: connect Fine Structure to any AI. Also the documentation and pricing.