Creating a Catalog

Create a custom catalog to control which API operations AI can discover. This guide walks you through the process.

When You Need a Custom Catalog

Create a custom catalog when you want to:

• Include your own APIs — Make internal services discoverable
• Limit scope — Restrict which public APIs are available
• Organize by project — Separate catalogs for different teams or clients
• Customize behavior — Apply overrides to fix or enhance API specs

If the standard catalog has everything you need with no restrictions, you don’t need a custom catalog.

Creating Your Catalog

Step 1: Navigate to New Catalog

1. Sign in to toolcog.com
2. Click Create in the header
3. Select Catalog

Step 2: Choose an Owner

Select who will own the catalog:

• Personal account — Just you can manage it
• Organization — Team members can manage it

Choose an organization for team catalogs.

Step 3: Set the Catalog Name

Enter a handle for your catalog:

• Lowercase letters, numbers, and hyphens
• Will appear in the MCP URL: https://mcp.toolcog.com/{owner}/{handle}
• Can’t be changed after creation

Examples: internal-apis, payments-stack, client-acme

Step 4: Configure Visibility

Choose who can use the catalog:

Private (default)

• Only authorized users can connect
• Catalog doesn’t appear in public listings
• Best for internal tools

Public

• Anyone can connect
• Catalog is discoverable
• Best for open-source tools

Step 5: Create

Click Create Catalog. Your catalog is created but empty—no operations are discoverable yet.

Adding Sources

An empty catalog discovers nothing. Add sources to include operations:

1. Navigate to your catalog
2. Go to Sources
3. Click Add Source
4. Select an API or catalog to include
5. Optionally add filters
6. Save

See Adding Sources for details.

Your Catalog’s MCP URL

Your catalog is accessible at:

https://mcp.toolcog.com/{owner}/{handle}

For example:

https://mcp.toolcog.com/acme/internal-apis

Use this URL in your MCP client configuration.

Testing Your Catalog

Connect to It

Configure your MCP client with your catalog’s URL:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-catalog": {
      "url": "https://mcp.toolcog.com/acme/internal-apis"
    }
  }
}

Verify Operations

Ask AI:

“What operations are available in this catalog?”

If AI returns a list of operations, your catalog is working.

Test Discovery

Ask AI to find something:

“Find operations for creating customers”

If your catalog includes Stripe and you added customer operations, AI should find them.

Managing Your Catalog

View Operations

Navigate to Operations to see all operations in your catalog, grouped by API.

View Sources

Navigate to Sources to see where operations come from and manage filters.

Edit Settings

Navigate to Settings to:

• Change visibility
• Update description
• Configure variables
• Delete the catalog

Catalog Variants

You can create variants of a catalog for different environments:

https://mcp.toolcog.com/acme/apis          # Main variant
https://mcp.toolcog.com/acme/apis@staging  # Staging variant
https://mcp.toolcog.com/acme/apis@dev      # Development variant

Each variant can have different sources, filters, and overrides.

Next Steps

• Adding Sources — Add sources to your catalog
• Uploading APIs — Add your own OpenAPI specs
• Overrides — Customize API behavior