MCP Server

The Candescent MCP Server exposes selected Digital Banking APIs through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) so you can discover and invoke banking operations from Cursor and other IDEs that support MCP servers — using structured tools instead of ad hoc HTTP calls from chat.

Beta

The MCP Server is in beta and intended for testing only. It is not approved for production use. APIs, endpoints, and authentication behavior may change between beta releases.

What the MCP Server Does

MCP is an open protocol for connecting AI applications to external data and tools. The Candescent MCP Server acts as a gateway between your IDE and Candescent Digital Banking APIs:

Capability	Description
Tool discovery	Your IDE lists available Digital Banking operations as typed tools with JSON schemas
Authenticated calls	A bearer token from your Developer Console app is sent on every MCP request
Institution context	Requests run in the context of your FI credentials and entitlements
Required headers	Authorization and transactionId are configured in your IDE's mcp.json

Use the MCP Server when you want to:

• Prototype AI-assisted support, research, or internal tooling against live (stage/sandbox) banking data
• Let an LLM call Candescent APIs without writing a custom BFF for every agent framework
• Validate API integrations interactively from your IDE before building a production service

Supported IDEs

This guide targets Cursor and similar development environments that let you add remote MCP servers over HTTP. Configuration uses the standard mcp.json format with a bearer token and transactionId header.

Who Should Use It

Financial Institution Developers

FI developers can connect their IDE using Shared Key and Secret Key credentials for Stage or Sandbox. See Installation for setup.

Marketplace Partners

Partners building integrations for multiple FIs can use the same MCP workflow with credentials scoped to their organization.

Supported API Areas

The beta MCP Server currently exposes a subset of Core Banking and User APIs. See Digital Banking APIs for the full list of operations and links to the REST API reference.

Architecture

At a high level:

1. Your IDE connects to the Candescent gateway at /mcp (for example https://api.stage.candescent.com/mcp).
2. The IDE sends MCP requests — such as tools/list and tools/call — with your bearer token and transactionId from mcp.json.
3. The MCP Server maps each tool invocation to the equivalent Digital Banking REST API operation behind the gateway.
4. The response returns to the IDE as a structured tool result for the AI to interpret.

Environments

Environment	MCP endpoint	When to use
Stage	https://api.stage.candescent.com/mcp	Beta testing against stage data
Sandbox	https://api.sandbox.candescent.com/mcp	Beta testing against sandbox data

Related Resources

Resource	Description
Candescent DI API	Full REST API reference (OpenAPI 1.6.0)
Create OAuth Token (V2)	Obtain bearer tokens for MCP requests
Authentication	OAuth token APIs and authorization flows

Next Steps

1. Installation — Add the MCP server in your IDE
2. Quick Start — Connect and run your first tool call
3. Digital Banking APIs — Operations available through MCP