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Quickstart

Connect your first App and call its tools from an MCP-compatible client.

This guide walks through the full flow with the file connector: create a connection, review the automatically generated tools, set up Connector in a client, and make your first call. It takes about 10 minutes.

Prerequisites

  • An Alibaba Cloud account with Alibaba Cloud Model Studio activated.
  • A Model Studio workspace and its workspace ID, in the form llm-xxxxxxxxxxxx.
  • A DashScope API Key, created on the API-KEY page of the Model Studio console.
  • An MCP-compatible client, such as Qoder.
For RAM users, the Alibaba Cloud account must grant authorization before Connector can be used.

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:
FieldRequiredDescription
Connector nameYesDistinguishes multiple connections under the same App, up to 64 characters. For example, Product docs library
Connector descriptionNoExplains what this connection stores and when to use it. Agents rely on the description to decide whether to call it, so be specific
Storage locationYesOnly 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.

Step 2: Review the automatically generated tools

Click the File connector card to open its details page, which has two sections:
  • 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.
The file connector always generates 2 tools:
ToolFunctionInput parameters
Search filesQueries the file list by keywords in file titles and returns file download linkskeyWord (string, required): keyword in the file title
maxCount (integer, optional): number of results to return, default 5, max 10
Get fileRetrieves a file by its ID and returns the file download linkfileId (string, required): the file ID
Tools are generated automatically once a connection is established. Their number and parameters are determined by the App type, so there is no need — and no way — to configure them manually. Different Apps generate different tools. For details, see the documentation for each App.

Step 3: Import a few files

A tool can only find content if the connector holds data. Data in the file connector is organized into categories.
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.
For all import methods, see the File connector.

Step 4: Set up your client

Connector exposes its service through a single MCP endpoint, which covers every connected App in the current workspace.
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:
{
  "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 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.
If you use Qoder, Qoder Work, or Qwen Work, you can install Connector with one click from the Install page in the console instead of writing the configuration by hand.

Step 5: Make your first call

Ask a question in natural language in your client, for example: 
Find the files about billing in the product documentation.
The client calls the search files tool and returns the list of matching files along with their download links.

Troubleshooting connection failures

SymptomPossible cause
Returns 401The authentication header is missing, or the API Key is invalid or expired
Returns 404The MCP endpoint is wrong. Check that the path is /api/v2/connector/mcp
Shows as disconnected in the server listThe workspace ID is incorrect, or the network cannot reach cn-beijing.maas.aliyuncs.com
Connected but the tool list is emptyThe current workspace has no connected Apps yet

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.
Get started
Auth configs
Connect apps
Reference
Changelog