Install

Connect Plugboard to your agent.

Choose a client, copy the config and restart it. Remote MCP needs no install; the local server runs through npx. Every snippet uses the same key placeholder, so swap it once.

claude_desktop_config.json (open it from the app's developer settings; location varies by OS)

1{
2  "mcpServers": {
3    "plugboard": {
4      "command": "npx",
5      "args": ["-y", "@plugboard/mcp-server"],
6      "env": {
7        "PLUGBOARD_API_KEY": "pb_live_your_key_here"
8      }
9    }
10  }
11}

Note: Replace pb_live_your_key_here with your API key from the dashboard, then restart the client.

Verify it worksUse plugboard to extract the title and price from https://shop.example.com/p/trail-runner-2

Using VS Code? It reads a “servers” block (not “mcpServers”) from .vscode/mcp.json, and can prompt for the key through an “inputs” entry so it never lands in git.

Three steps

From zero to first result.

Most teams finish this in a coffee break.

Step 1

Create a key

Step 1

Create a key

Step 2

Paste the config

Use remote MCP over HTTP for hosted agents, or the npx server for local stdio clients. Both expose the same eight tools.

Step 2

Paste the config

Use remote MCP over HTTP for hosted agents, or the npx server for local stdio clients. Both expose the same eight tools.

Step 3

Verify it works

Ask your agent: “Use Plugboard to fetch example.com and return the title.” You should get typed JSON back in under two seconds.

Step 3

Verify it works

Ask your agent: “Use Plugboard to fetch example.com and return the title.” You should get typed JSON back in under two seconds.

Custom instructions

Tell the model how to use the tools.

Paste this into a system prompt, AGENTS.md, CLAUDE.md or your Cursor rules. Edit the limits to match your plan.

AGENTS.md

# Plugboard — instructions for your agent
You can use the Plugboard tools to read the web.
 
1. Prefer fetch_page for a single URL. Use crawl_site only when
   the task needs more than 5 pages of one site.
2. When you need specific fields, call extract with a JSON Schema
   instead of parsing Markdown yourself.
3. Check usage_report before any job estimated over 1,000 calls,
   and stop if credits_left is under 10% of the plan.
4. Respect robots.txt and site terms. Never submit forms, log in,
   or collect personal data.
5. Cite the url from each result when you quote it.

Troubleshooting

If the tools don’t show up.

Check these before opening a ticket.

401 Unauthorized

The key is missing or revoked

Confirm the header is Authorization: Bearer pb_live_… and that the environment variable is visible to the client process.

401 Unauthorized

The key is missing or revoked

Confirm the header is Authorization: Bearer pb_live_… and that the environment variable is visible to the client process.

No tools listed

The client didn’t reload

Fully quit and reopen the client after editing its config. Most MCP clients only read the file at start-up.

No tools listed

The client didn’t reload

Fully quit and reopen the client after editing its config. Most MCP clients only read the file at start-up.

429 Too Many Requests

You hit a rate limit

Each tool lists its per-minute limit. Back off using the Retry-After header, or move to a plan with a higher ceiling.

429 Too Many Requests

You hit a rate limit

Each tool lists its per-minute limit. Back off using the Retry-After header, or move to a plan with a higher ceiling.