# Setup (/docs/tools/setup)



These register whatever your configuration is, so they are in your client's
tool list before you add anything.

`save_credentials` is the call the form makes when you select **Check and save**.
It is marked app-only, so the assistant does not call it, but your client still
lists it. Claude Desktop shows it under **App-only tools**.

None of them returns your key, your secret, or a fingerprint of either.

## setup\_credentials [#setup_credentials]

Opens a form for your API key and secret, so the values never enter the
conversation. The form asks three things: which site the key came from
(`delta.exchange` or the practice site `demo.delta.exchange`), then the key and
the secret. It checks the key against Delta before saving anything, and writes
`~/.delta-exchange-mcp/config.env`.

**Auth:** No key

This tool takes no parameters. You do not call it by name either. Ask in plain
language and the client picks it:

```text
Connect my Delta Exchange account
```

<Callout title="The form needs a client that can render one">
  Rendering a form inline is an optional part of MCP. Claude Desktop and the Codex
  desktop app do it today. On any other client nothing appears and the assistant
  prints the same instructions instead, which is the intended fallback, not a
  failure. See [Authentication](/docs/authentication) for the two ways that work
  everywhere.
</Callout>

On a client that shows the form, the running server picks up a saved key at once
and registers the account and trading tools together. Some clients, Claude Desktop
among them, read the tool list only when they start the server, so the new tools
appear after you restart the client. A key that carries Trading permission can
place orders from then on.

## get\_connection\_status [#get_connection_status]

Reports whether a key is configured, which environment it points at, and whether
the account and trading tools are live. Call it when a tool is missing and you
want to know why.

**Auth:** No key

This tool takes no parameters.

```text
What is the Delta MCP connection status?
```

It reconciles safe changes made to the config file outside the running process
before it answers, so a key you added by hand or through
`uvx delta-exchange-mcp login` can be picked up without a restart in some cases.

A value your client sets is read first and wins over the shared file, so a key
saved to the file has no effect while the client passes its own. That case is
worth knowing about if you typed your key into a client config:
[the form saved my key but the assistant still cannot see my
account](/docs/troubleshooting#the-form-saved-my-key-but-the-assistant-still-cannot-see-my-account).