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Zed can browse the Nevermined Catalog and pay for services as it works, without you handing over an API key. You add one server, approve a single spending cap, and Zed does the rest. This is the per-host walkthrough; for the concept and the other assistants, see Using the Catalog from your web assistant.

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Before you connect

1

A Nevermined account

Free, at nevermined.app. You never share an API key with Zed — the consent cap is the credential.
2

A funded wallet

A paid call draws on a spending cap you approve during connect — a commerce grant: a capped, revocable budget funded from your own wallet, not a key. Fund that wallet first with the asset the service settles in — see Fund your wallet. You approve the cap itself in Approve the spending cap.
Start on sandbox, where you use testnet funds and nothing costs real money, before you point Zed at live.

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Add the Catalog to Zed

1

Add the server

Open Settings → AI → MCP Servers (or run the agent: open settings action), click Add Server → Add Remote Server, and enter a name and the URL for your environment:Leave the headers blank — with no Authorization header Zed runs the standard MCP OAuth (PKCE) flow for you, identifying itself with its own client metadata document, so there is nothing to register. Zed stores the server under context_servers in your settings.
2

Authorize

With no Authorization header set, Zed runs OAuth and opens Nevermined’s consent page on your first paid call — browsing and free tools need no sign-in. The indicator dot next to the server name turns green (Server is active) once it is connected.

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Approve the spending cap

Zed opens Nevermined’s consent page on your first paid call. Discovery and free tools need no credential. It is the one place a human is required.
1

Check who and where

The page shows the Sandbox / Live badge and who is asking. On live, the cap is real money.
2

Set the cap and validity

Set the spending cap (USDC or EURC) and how long the grant is valid for, then Grant access.
That approval is a commerce grant: it spends only from the budget you just approved, only through the Router, and you can revoke it any time. Nevermined’s routing fee comes out of the same cap, and the grant can also read your payment history and wallet balance — the cap bounds what it can spend, not what it can see.

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Make your first paid call

Ask for something only live data can answer, and name the connector so Zed reaches for it rather than answering from memory.
1

Browse for free

Ask “list the Nevermined catalog categories” — a free tool call, no sign-in.
2

Ask it to buy

“Buy the service with slug <slug> through the Nevermined connector and show me the response.” The paid call draws on the cap you approved and returns the merchant’s response.
If Zed answers without paying, it answered from its own knowledge — name the connector and ask for live data. More on phrasing: Catalog MCP tips.

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Disconnect

  • Revoke the budget (Nevermined side). Open Connections and disconnect Zed. The credential stops working on its next call; discovery still works.
  • Remove the connector (Zed side). Remove the server from Settings → AI → MCP Servers (or delete its context_servers entry in your settings).
To spend again — after you disconnect, or after a cap is used up — re-run the connect step and approve a new cap. A budget is never widened or extended in place.

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Next

Using the Catalog from your web assistant

The concept and the other assistants.

Catalog MCP — full reference

Every click path, the consent details, and every refusal code.