---
title: Set up Turn Zero Cloud with your AI
description: Paste one prompt into Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, or Codex, and your AI connects Turn Zero Cloud, signs you in, and makes a folder for a demo app.
slug: /getting-started/set-up
order: 0
visibility: public
redirects_from: [/getting-started/set-up-turn-zero-cloud-with-your-ai]
---

# Set up Turn Zero Cloud with your AI

Prompt:

> Set me up with Turn Zero Cloud and a small demo app. Follow the steps at `https://turnzero.ai/cloud/getting-started/set-up/`

Paste it into Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, or Codex on your computer. It takes about five minutes.

What the prompt does:

- Connects Turn Zero Cloud's MCP server to your AI tool. Your AI asks before it runs each command.
- Has you sign in with your browser. If you're new, your free Turn Zero account is made then.
- Makes a `turnzero-demo` folder, in a place you confirm.
- Shows you a prompt that builds a small AI chat web app with sign-in, deploys it, and gives you the link.

The prompt sets up Turn Zero Cloud on this computer. To use it everywhere you use Claude, including claude.ai and the Claude phone app, also add it in your Claude settings: open **Settings**, then **Connectors**, choose **Add custom connector**, and enter `https://turnzero.ai/mcp`. Leave **Sign in now** selected, then choose **Add** and finish signing in in the browser that opens. To connect by hand instead of with the prompt, see [Connect Claude Code or Codex](/getting-started/connect-your-tool).

## What your tool does

- Adds Turn Zero Cloud's MCP server, `https://turnzero.ai/mcp`, for every folder on this computer, and asks you before it runs the command.
- Starts the sign-in, which opens your browser. You sign in there.
- Suggests where to put a `turnzero-demo` folder, asks you to confirm, and makes the folder.
- Gives you the steps to open a new session in that folder, and the prompt to paste there.

## What you need

- Claude Code, the Claude desktop app, or Codex, on a Mac, Windows, or Linux computer.
- A web browser for signing in. Your first sign-in makes your free Turn Zero account.

## Before your AI starts

This section is for your AI coding tool: what it checks and gathers before it begins. You don't need to do these steps yourself.

- Which tool it is. Claude Code runs in a terminal or in the Claude desktop app's Code tab, and Codex as a CLI or an app. A chat with no shell is claude.ai, the Claude app's chat view, or ChatGPT.
- Whether the MCP server, `turnzero-cloud`, is already set up for every folder. In Claude Code, run `claude mcp get turnzero-cloud`, which shows its scope and its status.
- In Claude Code, where its scope is User and it is connected, skip to [step 3](#3-choose-the-folder-with-the-person). Where its scope is User and it needs authentication, skip to [step 2](#2-start-the-sign-in).
- In Claude Code, where it failed to connect or was added at another scope, remove it at the scope it shows. For example, run `claude mcp remove turnzero-cloud --scope local`. Then do [step 1](#1-add-the-server-for-every-folder), which adds it at user scope.
- In Codex, whose settings hold for every folder, run `codex mcp list`. If it is listed as connected, skip to [step 3](#3-choose-the-folder-with-the-person). If it is listed but needs authentication, skip to [step 2](#2-start-the-sign-in).
- Where the person keeps code projects. Look for folders such as `~/code`, `~/projects`, `~/src`, `~/dev`, or `~/Documents/GitHub`. On Windows these are under `C:\Users\<name>`.

## Steps

The person asked you to set up Turn Zero Cloud and a demo app. Do these steps in order. Before each command, say in one sentence what it does, and ask the person before you run it. When a step is the person's, tell them exactly what to do, then wait for them. Never ask the person to paste a password, a token, or a key into the chat.

In a chat with no shell, skip all four steps. In Claude, tell the person to add `https://turnzero.ai/mcp` as a custom connector in Claude's settings, as the Claude steps at the top of this page show. In ChatGPT, tell them to add `https://turnzero.ai/mcp` as a connector in ChatGPT's settings, where their plan offers connectors, and give them the [by-hand steps](/getting-started/connect-your-tool). Then tell them to start a new chat, turn on Turn Zero Cloud there, and paste the build prompt from [step 4](#4-give-the-person-their-next-steps).

### 1. Add the server for every folder

Run the line for your tool. It adds the server at user scope, so every folder and every new session on this computer has it.

- Claude Code: `claude mcp add --transport http --scope user turnzero-cloud https://turnzero.ai/mcp`
- Codex: first tell the person a browser window will open for the sign-in. Then run `codex mcp add turnzero-cloud --url https://turnzero.ai/mcp`. It may wait until the sign-in finishes, so set your command timeout to at least five minutes.

Codex may ask the person to approve writing its settings file and reaching the network. Both are expected.

Where the `claude` or `codex` command is not found, as in some desktop app installs, tell the person to add the server by hand. The top of this page gives Claude's settings steps, and the [by-hand steps](/getting-started/connect-your-tool) cover each tool. Then continue at [step 3](#3-choose-the-folder-with-the-person). Without the command, `claude mcp list` and `codex mcp list` cannot run, so the check is that the new session lists Turn Zero Cloud's tools.

### 2. Start the sign-in

- Claude Code: tell the person a browser window is about to open, and that they sign in there. Then run `claude mcp login turnzero-cloud`. It waits until the sign-in finishes, so set your command timeout to at least five minutes.
- Codex: the sign-in started in step 1. If no browser opened, run `codex mcp login turnzero-cloud`.

Then run `claude mcp list` or `codex mcp list`, and check that it lists the MCP server, `turnzero-cloud`, as connected.

The sign-in is saved for this computer, so a new session in any folder is already signed in. If no browser can open, go on to step 3: the person signs in from the new session, as step 4 says.

### 3. Choose the folder with the person

Suggest a folder named `turnzero-demo` beside the person's other code projects, never inside one of them, and say why you chose that place. Ask them to confirm it or name another place, and wait for their answer. If the folder already exists and is empty, use it. If it holds files, suggest `turnzero-demo-2` instead. Then make the folder, and leave it empty.

Don't build the app in this session. A server added during a session may not load until a new session starts.

### 4. Give the person their next steps

End with one short list the person can follow. Give only the lines for the tool you are, and fill in the folder's full path.

1. Open a new session in the folder. In a terminal, run `cd <folder>`, then `claude` or `codex`. In the Claude desktop app's Code tab, or the Codex app, start a new session and choose the folder.
2. Paste this prompt into the new session:

   ```text
   Build a simple AI chat web app where I sign in with an account and ask questions. Deploy it to Turn Zero Cloud and give me its link.
   ```

3. If the new session says Turn Zero Cloud needs a sign-in, type `/mcp` inside the new Claude Code session, not in the terminal, choose turnzero-cloud, and sign in in the browser. In Codex, run `codex mcp login turnzero-cloud` in a terminal.

## Expected result

- `claude mcp list` or `codex mcp list` lists the MCP server, `turnzero-cloud`, as connected. Where the command is not found, the new session lists Turn Zero Cloud's tools instead.
- An empty `turnzero-demo` folder stands where the person chose.
- The person has the new-session steps and the build prompt. In the new session, the app is built, deployed, and its link is shown.

## Refusals

| What you see | Cause | Remedy |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `claude: command not found` or `codex: command not found` | The desktop app runs without the command on the path. | Add the server by hand ([Connect Claude Code or Codex](/getting-started/connect-your-tool)), then continue at step 3. |
| `Needs authentication` in `claude mcp list` | The sign-in has not finished. | Run `claude mcp login turnzero-cloud` again, or type `/mcp` in a new session and choose turnzero-cloud. |
| The browser does not open | The tool runs where it cannot open a browser. | Sign in from the new session with `/mcp` in Claude Code, or `codex mcp login turnzero-cloud` in a terminal. |
| The new session lists no Turn Zero Cloud tools | The session started before the server was added, or the sign-in is missing. | Start one more new session in the folder. If the tools are still missing, sign in again. |

[Setup](/troubleshooting/setup) in Troubleshooting covers more connection problems.

## Related

- [Connect Claude Code or Codex](/getting-started/connect-your-tool) gives the by-hand steps for each tool.
- [Deploy an application](/getting-started/deploy-an-application) explains what happens when the demo app is deployed.
- [What your computer needs](/getting-started/prerequisites) lists what the deploy line needs.
