Make connects with a plain Nevermined API key, not the OAuth “approve a spending cap” flow that some assistants (Claude, ChatGPT) use. The key is your credential — it spends whatever its Nevermined account funds, so you set the budget on your account, not in Make.
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 Make at live.
Add the Catalog to Make
1
Add the MCP Client
In a Make scenario, add the MCP Client app (its Call a tool / Execute an action with AI modules), and create a connection with + New MCP Server.
2
Point it at the server
Set the server URL to the environment you want:
3
Add your API key
For a manually-entered server Make shows an API Key / Access token field — paste your Nevermined API key there.
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 Make. 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
Give a scenario a task that needs a live, paid service, so the MCP Client reaches for the Catalog tools rather than answering from memory.1
Browse for free
Have the scenario call a free discovery tool first — list the Nevermined catalog categories, or search the catalog for a weather service. Discovery needs no payment.
2
Let it buy
Then have it pay a service by slug — buy the service
<slug> and return 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 Make 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 (Make side). Delete the Nevermined MCP Client connection from your scenario and your connections.
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.