How to integrate Hugging Face using MCP
Open AI models and inference API. This guide creates an MCP server from Arthur's Hugging Face template — tools preconfigured against https://api-inference.huggingface.co/models — and finishes by sharing the server's MCP swagger documentation.
Steps
Open the Secrets vault and create a secret named
HUGGINGFACE_API_KEYholding your access token. Create a User Access Token at huggingface.co/settings/tokens with "Inference" permissions.


Go to the REST API Templates gallery and search for Hugging Face.


Click Use template on the Hugging Face card to open the server-creation dialog.


Review the server name and select
HUGGINGFACE_API_KEYin the credential field — the dialog only accepts vault secrets, and it lists every tool that will be created.


Click Create server. Arthur creates the server, applies the authentication, and generates all the tools.





Open the server's Tools tab to review the generated tools.

Open the server's Connect section and click Share the MCP swagger documentation — Arthur generates the public documentation link and QR code for this server.



Confirm it worked
The server appears with 3 preconfigured tool(s): text_generation, text_classification, image_to_text. The Connect section offers the MCP swagger documentation — a shareable page with setup instructions for any AI client.
Good to know
- Run inference on thousands of open-source AI models — text generation, classification, image generation, audio, and more — via the Hugging Face Inference API.
- This integration requires a credential (bearer). Get one at https://huggingface.co/join.
- Official API documentation: https://huggingface.co/docs/api-inference
- Editing a tool later never changes the template — templates are starting points, and the server is fully yours after creation.
Related
Tutorial video