CTO connector
Connect CTO to Claude, ChatGPT, Codex or Cursor
The plugin coaches Claude Code on its own. The connector brings the same coaching to any app that supports remote MCP connectors: ask before a task, and CTO tells you what is worth doing at that size, what to skip, and what to confirm before anything irreversible runs.
What it does
Three tools. All read-only: they answer, and they never change anything anywhere.
| Tool | What it answers | Try asking |
|---|---|---|
cto_task (Coach a task) | Which techniques are worth it for this task's size, what to skip, and any step to confirm with you first because it can't be undone. | "I'm about to migrate the payments table tonight. Ask CTO what to check first." |
cto_prompt_check (Check a prompt) | What your draft prompt is missing (role, context, task, constraints, output, examples, success criteria), scaled to the stakes. A quick ask gets one line, not a form. | "Use CTO to check this prompt before I send it: ..." |
cto_model_cost (Compare model costs) | What one request or workload costs on each Claude model at current list prices, including cache reads, cheapest first. | "With CTO, compare 200k input tokens (150k cached) and 5k output across Opus, Sonnet and Haiku." |
Before you start
The connector is part of CTO Pro. You sign in with your Pro licence key (it's in your purchase email). During the beta we also issue access keys: write to [email protected].
The connector address, the same in every app:
https://mcp.tokencoach.dev/mcpClaude (web and desktop)
- Open Settings, then Connectors.
- Choose Add custom connector, name it CTO, and paste the address above.
- Select Connect. A CTO sign-in page opens: paste your licence key and select Allow.
- In a chat, turn CTO on from the tools menu and ask before your next task.
Once CTO is listed in Claude's connector directory you can search for it there instead of pasting the address.
ChatGPT
- Open Settings, then Apps, and find CTO in the directory once it's listed.
- Until then: with developer mode on, create an app with the address above.
- Sign in on the CTO page with your licence key and select Allow.
Codex
In a terminal:
codex mcp add cto --url https://mcp.tokencoach.dev/mcp codex mcp login cto
The second command opens the CTO sign-in page in your browser.
Cursor
Add this to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (all projects) or .cursor/mcp.json (one project), then restart Cursor and sign in when it asks:
{
"mcpServers": {
"cto": { "url": "https://mcp.tokencoach.dev/mcp" }
}
}
Prefer to run it on your own machine?
CTO also ships a local MCP server (no account, no network): cto_task, plus cto_status and cto_plan, which read your own Claude Code usage. Clone the repository and point your app at it:
git clone https://github.com/tokencoach/token-coach ~/token-coach codex mcp add cto-local -- python3 ~/token-coach/scripts/mcp_server.py
For Claude Desktop or Cursor, use "command": "python3", "args": ["/full/path/to/token-coach/scripts/mcp_server.py"] in the same config file as above. In Claude Code, use the plugin instead: it already has these, and both would cost context for nothing.
What the connector sees
- Only what the app sends to a tool: the task or prompt text you asked about, or the token counts to price. Never your files, chats or Claude Code sessions.
- Answered in memory, never stored, never logged. Request logging is off on the server.
- Your key is checked at sign-in and kept only as a one-way hash, so access can be revoked.
- No ads, no tracking, nothing sold or shared. Full detail in the privacy policy.
Help
- "Your CTO Pro access isn't active any more": renew on the pricing page, then reconnect the app.
- "This sign-in link isn't valid": go back to the app and connect CTO again; sign-in links expire.
- To disconnect: remove CTO in your app's connector settings. To have a key switched off, email us.
- Anything else: [email protected]. A person reads every message.