Salesforce now has first-party MCP support: fully managed hosted MCP servers (generally available in 2026) and an official CLI-based server for local development. Both respect your existing permissions. Here is how to set up each.
Option A — hosted MCP servers (recommended)
Salesforce hosts and scales the servers — nothing to provision. You enable a server in Setup, and it is live. Your existing security applies automatically: CRUD, field-level security and sharing rules all carry over, so the AI can never see more than the connecting user can.
Setup outline:
- In Setup, enable the hosted MCP server you want (it exposes sObjects, Flows, Invocable Actions, Data 360, Prompt Builder and more as tools).
- Create an External Client App for OAuth 2.0 with PKCE (mandatory). Configure the callback URL.
- Select the scopes "Access MCP servers" and "Perform requests at any time" (
refresh_token). - Add the server to your client as a remote/OAuth connector and authorise.
Requires Enterprise Edition or above.
Option B — official CLI server (local dev)
For local development, Salesforce maintains the salesforcecli/mcp server, which talks to your orgs through the Salesforce CLI. Good when you are building and already authenticated via sf.
Verify
Ask: "List the 5 most recently created Opportunities and their stages." Real records back means it is connected and your permissions allow it.
Common problems
- PKCE / OAuth errors — PKCE is mandatory on hosted servers; ensure your External Client App is configured for it and the callback URL matches.
- "Insufficient access" — expected and correct: the server enforces the connecting user's CRUD/FLS/sharing. Adjust the user's permissions, not the server.
- Missing scopes — add "Access MCP servers" and the refresh-token scope to the connected app.
Security
Because Salesforce enforces your existing permission model, the safest approach is to connect with a least-privilege user/permission set rather than an admin. See MCP security best practices.
Going further
Salesforce fits a revenue-ops stack with Slack and web search servers. Browse the productivity category or a curated loadout. Built a CRM server? Submit it.