Connect your tools to Ken with Agent tools

Agent tools let Ken and Kenso's other agents use the tools your team already works in, such as Linear, Notion, Atlassian or your own knowledge base. A workspace admin connects a tool once, and every member's agents can use it. Ken can then look things up in it and cite what it found.

An MCP server is the way a tool offers its features to AI agents. Each feature is a "tool", such as "find an issue" or "search pages". Kenso connects to remote MCP servers, which are servers on the internet that a company hosts. It does not run servers on your computer.

What Agent tools do

Without Agent tools, Ken knows what is in Kenso. With them, Ken can also use what you keep elsewhere:

• Ask Ken for the status of a Linear issue, and it looks the issue up.
• Ask Ken a question that needs a Notion page, and it reads the page.
• Ask Studio to build a page with a case study or product doc from a connected tool, and to pull an image into the page.

Agent tools has two parts, both under Settings, then Integrations, then Agent tools:

• Your MCP servers are tools you connect yourself.
• Built in are apps Kenso already connects to, such as HubSpot, Gmail and Google Drive. Ken can read them with no new connection.

Before you start

• You need to be a workspace admin to add or change a server. Other members can see the list, and their agents use the tools. They see the note "Only workspace admins can add or change servers."
• Every plan can use it. A workspace can connect up to 100 servers.
• The server must be a remote MCP server on https. Kenso does not connect to servers that run on a laptop or inside your own network.
• Have the sign-in ready. A preset signs you in with the tool's own login. For a token, create an API token in the tool first.

Connect a server

Connect Linear, Notion, Atlassian or Airtable

These four are presets, so you don't need an address.

1. Press G then , to open Settings, then click All integrations under Integrations.
2. Click Agent tools.
3. Under Your MCP servers, click Add server.
4. In Add an MCP server, click the tool you want: Linear, Notion, Atlassian or Airtable.
5. Choose how to sign in. OAuth sign-in is the default: you sign in with the tool's own login, and Kenso never sees your password. Token asks for an API token instead.
6. Leave all the agents ticked under Agents that can use its tools, or untick the ones that should not use this server.
7. Click Add and sign in. Kenso opens the tool's sign-in page. Sign in and approve access.

You come back to Agent tools and see "Connected Linear. Agents can use its tools from their next message." If you chose Token, click Add server instead. Kenso then adds the server without leaving the page.

Connect another MCP server

1. On Agent tools, click Add server.
2. Click Custom server.
3. Enter the Server URL, for example https://mcp.example.com/mcp. It must start with https.
4. Enter a Name. This is what you see in the list.
5. Add a Description (optional). A line on what the server holds helps Ken pick the right tool.
6. Choose the sign-in: OAuth sign-in, Token or No auth. For Token, paste the key into API token.
7. Choose the agents that can use it, then click Add and sign in or Add server.

Check the status

Each server in the list shows its address, how many tools it has and a status:

Choose which tools Ken can use

Click a server in the list to open it. The panel shows:

• Tools. Every tool the server offers, with a switch. Turn a switch off and no agent can use that tool from the next message on. A tool the server marks as read-only shows a Read-only badge.
• Agents. The agents that can use this server.
• Sign in or Reconnect, for a server with OAuth sign-in. Use it when the sign-in expires or you want to use another account.
• Replace token, for a server with a token. Paste the new key in New token and click Save token.
• Refresh tools. Click it when the tool added or removed a feature. Kenso also refreshes the list by itself, about once a day while agents use the server.
• Remove. Agents lose its tools from their next message, and Kenso deletes its sign-in or token.

A tool switch works for every agent. The agent ticks work for the whole server.

Turning a tool off is the safest way to keep Ken away from something. Ken may use a similar tool instead, so turn off each tool you want it to avoid.

Approvals

Ken does not change anything in a tool you connected without asking you first.

• A read-only tool runs straight away. The server decides what is read-only, and Ken trusts that. "Find an issue" and "search pages" are examples.
• Any other tool asks first. Ken shows an approval card in the chat. The tool runs when you approve it.
• A read-only tool that is given a web address or a domain name asks first too. This keeps Ken from sending your information to an address it was given by text it read. In Slack and in background work, where there is no card, Ken can't use it at all.

Kenso tells Ken to treat what a connected tool returns as information, never as instructions. Even if a Notion page says "ignore your rules", any change Ken would make in a connected tool still waits for your approval.

For the rest of how Ken asks before it acts, see What Ken does on its own.

Built in tools

Built in lists the apps Kenso already connects to. Ken reads them with no new connection, and it never changes anything in them.

Each card shows whether Ken can use it:

• Available. Ken can use it. The card shows the account it reads as.
• Not connected. Connect it first. Click the link on the card, such as Connect Gmail.
• Disconnected. The connection stopped working. Click the link, such as Reconnect Gmail.
• Not available. The app is not available in your workspace.
• Couldn't check. Kenso could not read the status. Reload the page.

The built-in cards work for each person. Ken reads the mailbox and the files of the person who is chatting with it, so connect your own Gmail, Outlook or Drive on its card. For a CRM, Ken uses the workspace's connection. See Connect your CRM and Connect your mailbox and LinkedIn.

Ken reads live records in HubSpot and Salesforce only. Other CRMs are not read this way yet.

Choose the Google Drive files Ken can read

Kenso can only open the Google Drive files you pick, and the docs Kenso saved to your Drive. This is on purpose: Kenso never gets access to everything in your Drive. If you ask Ken to use a Drive file you have not picked, Ken can't open it. It tells you so, and asks you to choose the file on the Google Drive card.

1. Press G then , to open Settings, then click All integrations under Integrations.
2. Click Agent tools.
3. On the Google Drive card, check that it says Available. If it says Not connected, click the link on the card first.
4. Click Choose files for Ken. Google's file picker opens. If your browser blocks the window, allow pop-ups for Kenso and try again.
5. Select the files Ken should read, then confirm. Ken can read them from your next message on.

Pick the files again whenever you want Ken to use new ones. The card does not list the files you picked, so keep track of them yourself.

Which agents use the tools

Each server has a list of agents that can use it. All of them are ticked when you add it.

Slack has no approval cards, so Ken in Slack uses read-only tools only. Ken's scheduled background work does the same.

Onboarding does not use connected servers.

Studio builder and Campaign builder never read email. They skip any server or tool whose name looks like email.

A member with a view-only role, such as Viewer, gets read-only tools only, with every agent.

Studio can use connected tools in two ways. It can pull content into a page, such as a case study, product copy or brand copy. It can also bring in an image that a connected tool returned, or an image from your Google Drive or OneDrive. A Drive or OneDrive image needs no approval. An image from an address a connected tool returned asks for your approval first.

Limits

• Up to 100 servers per workspace.
• Remote MCP servers on https only.
• Ken uses a server's tools. It does not use the other things a server can offer.
• Built in tools are read-only. Ken never writes to your CRM, your mail or your files through them.
• Ken reads a Google Drive file only after you pick it, unless Kenso saved it to your Drive.

If something goes wrong

I can't see the Add server button. Only workspace admins can add or change servers. Ask an admin.

The status says "Sign-in needed". Open the server and click Sign in. If Ken says a server needs to be reconnected, click Reconnect on that server.

The status says "Couldn't connect". Open the server to read the reason. Check that the address starts with https and that the token is still valid. Click Replace token if it is not. Then click Refresh tools.

Ken says a tool is turned off. An admin turned it off in the server's panel, or the agent you are talking to is not ticked under Agents. Turn the switch on, or tick the agent, to use it. A tool that makes changes also reads as turned off where only read-only tools are available.

Ken doesn't use my server. Check that the server is Connected, that the agent you are talking to is ticked under Agents, and that Ken's turn is a new message, because a change applies from the next message on. In Slack, in Support and for a member with a view-only role, only read-only tools are available.

Ken can't open my Google Drive file. The file was not picked yet. Use Choose files for Ken on the Google Drive card, pick the file, then ask Ken again.

Kenso says "A workspace can connect up to 100 MCP servers. Remove one first." Remove a server you no longer use, then add the new one.

Next: What Ken does on its own, Ask Ken from any page or Make assets in Studio.