Copilot Studio connects with a plain Nevermined API key in a header, not the OAuth “approve a spending cap” flow that some assistants (Claude, ChatGPT) use — and not a customer Entra OAuth app. The key is your credential — it spends whatever its Nevermined account funds, so you set the budget on your account, not in Copilot Studio.
Before you connect
1
A Nevermined account
Free, at nevermined.app.
2
A Nevermined API key
Create a plain API key in the app — Settings → Global NVM API Keys — for the environment you want, and send the whole string, prefix included (
sandbox:… or live:…). A key minted by an OAuth flow can’t pay through the Router’s delegation routes, so use a plain one. See Get a Nevermined API key.3
A way to pay
The key spends from one of two budgets you set up once: a Nevermined Subscription whose monthly credits a plain key can spend, or a spending delegation — a capped, revocable budget funded from your own wallet (Using the Catalog from a harness walks through it). Discovery is free and needs neither.
Start on sandbox, where you use testnet funds and nothing costs real money, before you point the agent at live.
Add the Catalog to your agent
1
Add an MCP tool
In your Copilot Studio agent, open Tools → Add a tool → New tool → Model Context Protocol.
2
Point it at the server
Enter a Server name and Server description, and set Server URL to the environment you want:
3
Authenticate with your key
Set Authentication to API key, choose Type = Header, use the header name
Authorization, and supply Bearer <your Nevermined API key> as the value.If Copilot Studio adds the
Bearer prefix for you, supply just the key — the header that reaches the server must read Authorization: Bearer <key>.Your Nevermined API key
That key is your credential — there is no separate consent screen to approve. Keep the prefix: alive: key for mcp.live, a sandbox: key for mcp.sandbox.
The key spends whatever its account funds — your Subscription credits, or a spending delegation funded from your wallet — so the budget and the audit trail live on your Nevermined account, not in Copilot Studio. Treat it like a password: never commit it or paste it into a shared chat. Every way to mint one: Get a Nevermined API key.
Make your first paid call
Ask for something only live data can answer, and name the tool so the agent reaches for it rather than answering from memory.1
Browse for free
In a test chat, ask the agent to “list the Nevermined catalog categories” — a free tool call, no payment.
2
Ask it to buy
“Buy the service with slug
<slug> through the Nevermined tool and show me the response.” The paid call draws on your subscription credits or delegation and returns the merchant’s response.Disconnect or rotate the key
- Stop the credential (Nevermined side). The key is the credential, so to cut the agent off, rotate or delete the key in the app (Settings → Global NVM API Keys) — every call with the old key then fails. To cap spending without revoking the key, revoke the delegation it spends from in Payment methods; discovery still works.
- Remove the server (Copilot Studio side). In the agent’s Tools, open the Nevermined MCP tool and remove it.
Next
Using the Catalog from a harness
The full plain-key playbook — discovery, delegations, and the safety rules.
Catalog MCP — full reference
Every tool, the API-key header, and every refusal code.