Quickstart

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Prerequisites

• An Alibaba Cloud account with Alibaba Cloud Model Studio activated.
• An Alibaba Cloud Model Studio workspace and its workspace ID, in the form llm-xxxxxxxxxxxx.
• A DashScope API Key, created on the API-KEY page of the Alibaba Cloud Model Studio console.
• An MCP-compatible client, such as Qoder.

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Step 1: Create a connection

1. Open the App catalog: Go to the Connector console and click Apps in the left-side navigation. The page lists every App you can connect.
2. Choose the file connector: Find the File connector card and click Connect on the card. The file connector hosts unstructured documents such as PDF, Word, and Markdown files. It requires no credentials from an external system, which makes it the easiest way to complete the flow for the first time.
   For Apps such as Yuque, Salesforce, and MaxCompute, the connection dialog contains only an auth config dropdown, so you have to create an auth config before you can connect. For the workflow, see Authentication overview.
3. Fill in the connection details. In the dialog box that appears, provide the following:

   Field	Required	Description
   Connector name	Yes	Distinguishes multiple connections under the same App, up to 64 characters. For example, Product docs library
   Connector description	No	Explains what this connection stores and when to use it. Agents rely on the description to decide whether to call it, so be specific
   Storage location	Yes	Only one option, Use platform storage, which keeps the data within the free storage quota provided by the platform

   The description is not decoration. It directly affects how accurately an agent picks a tool. Something like Product manuals and release notes, referenced when answering questions about product features is far more effective than just Documents.
4. Confirm the creation: Click Confirm. Back on the Apps list, the file connector card shows the number of connections you have created.

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Step 2: Review the automatically generated tools

• Connected users: lists every connector instance under this App, with its name, status, and creation time. Click the edit icon next to a name to rename it.
• Available tools: the tools Connector generated automatically. Expand any tool to see its input and output parameters.

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Step 3: Import a few files

1. Create a category: Open the file management page of the connector and create a category in the category pane on the left, for example Product manuals.
2. Upload files: Click Import data, choose local upload as the import method, and select a few PDF or Word files.
3. Wait for parsing to finish: The platform converts the files into a searchable format. Parsing can take a while when there are many files or during peak hours.

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Step 4: Set up your client

1. Find the MCP configuration entry: Locate the MCP or connector configuration entry in the client you use.
2. Add the MCP server. Add the following configuration to the client's MCP configuration file:
   Copy

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "bailian-connector-mcp": {
         "type": "http",
         "url": "https://${workspaceId}.cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com/api/v2/connector/mcp",
         "headers": {
           "Authorization": "Bearer ${DASHSCOPE_API_KEY}"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   
3. Replace the two variables:
   • Replace ${workspaceId} with your Alibaba Cloud Model Studio workspace ID.
   • Replace ${DASHSCOPE_API_KEY} with your DashScope API Key.
   An API Key is a sensitive credential. Do not share it with others or commit it to a code repository. If your client supports environment variable injection, use it so the key is never stored in plaintext in a configuration file.
4. Verify the connection: Save the configuration, then restart or refresh the client. In the MCP server list, confirm that bailian-connector-mcp shows as connected and that expanding it reveals the tools provided by Connector.

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Step 5: Make your first call

Find the files about billing in the product documentation.

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Troubleshooting connection failures

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Next steps

• Core concepts: Understand the hierarchy of Apps, connector instances, and tools.
• Connect more Apps: Connect real business systems such as DingTalk, Yuque, and databases.
• Authentication: Create an auth config before you connect Yuque or Salesforce.
• Manage files and categories: Organize files with categories and import them from your machine or in bulk from OSS.