What changes once it is connected
You are drafting a hiring plan with your assistant. Instead of describing the role, switching tab, running a search, copying five profiles back, you ask for them and they arrive in the conversation, with the repository each person ships to and how to reach them.
It fits the way a technical founder works especially well: the moment you realise you need a backend hire is usually a moment you are already in your editor or your assistant, not in a sourcing tool.
Three tools are exposed:
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search developers on GitHub | Finds engineers by technology, location and role, ranked by evidence of real work |
| Save a developer to the pipeline | Adds someone to My Candidates, as to contact or contacted |
| List saved candidates | Reads back your pipeline, filtered by stage |
Nothing to prepare
No key to copy, no token to paste. You add the address below to your assistant, it sends you to StarHunt to sign in, and you are done. If you do not have an account yet, you create it right there, in the same flow.
A free account includes three searches with full profiles and public contact details, no card. The connector keeps working when you upgrade, nothing to reconfigure.
Connect StarHunt to Claude
Add the connector
In Claude, go to Settings, then Connectors, then Add custom connector.
| Name | StarHunt |
|---|---|
| Remote MCP server URL | https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp |
Choose the authentication options
| Authentication | Always required |
|---|---|
| OAuth client | No client ID, register one automatically |
The second option matters. StarHunt registers your client on the fly, which is the standard behaviour and needs nothing from you. The Anthropic-hosted metadata option would fail: StarHunt does not read client details from an external URL. The third option is for a client ID you registered by hand, which you have not.
Sign in and approve
Claude opens StarHunt in your browser. Sign in, or create a free account, then approve the access. The screen tells you exactly what the connector can do, and what it cannot: it can never change your subscription, spend money or delete anything.
You land back in Claude, connected.
Set the tool permissions
Claude lists the three tools. The sensible split is read automatically, write on approval:
| Tool | Setting |
|---|---|
| Search developers on GitHub | Always allow |
| List saved candidates | Always allow |
| Save a developer to the pipeline | Require approval |
The first two only read. The third writes to your pipeline, so it is worth a confirmation. Leaving all three on approval works, but three clicks for one search removes most of the point of having the tool in the chat.
Then just ask, in the conversation: “Find me AI product engineers in San Francisco who ship Python in production.”
Connect StarHunt to ChatGPT
ChatGPT supports remote MCP servers through its custom connectors, which live behind developer mode.
Enable developer mode
In ChatGPT, open Settings, then Connectors, then Advanced, and turn on Developer mode. Custom MCP connectors are not offered without it.
Add the same URL
Name it StarHunt and use https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp. If ChatGPT offers OAuth, take it, the flow is the same as Claude. If it does not, use the API key method below.
Developer tools
Both handle remote MCP servers. Point them at https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp and they will run the same sign-in flow. If your version does not do OAuth yet, the API key below works as a header.
If your client does not support OAuth
Some clients cannot run a sign-in flow, and scripts have no browser at all. For those, StarHunt still issues a personal API key, in Settings inside the app. It grants exactly the same access.
| With a header | URL https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp, header Authorization set to Bearer sh_your_key |
|---|---|
| Without a header | URL https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp/sh_your_key, authentication None |
Prefer OAuth where you can. A key sits in a configuration file or an address, so it can leak through a log or a shared screenshot, and it never expires until you revoke it. An OAuth token expires on its own and can be revoked from Settings without touching anything else.
What the assistant can and cannot do
MCP searches go through the same fair use limits as the web app, and there is no pagination: one search returns at most 25 profiles. An assistant that loops through searches is stopped exactly as a script would be, which protects the index without ever getting in the way of real sourcing.
Everything returned is public GitHub data, and any developer can remove themselves from the index in one click.
MCP setup, answered
What is an MCP server?
Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets an AI assistant call external tools. Connecting StarHunt as an MCP server means Claude or ChatGPT can run a developer search and read your candidate pipeline directly, instead of you switching to another tab and copying results back.
Do I need to pay to use it?
No. A free account works, with its three searches, and you can create it during the connection itself. Pro removes the limit on searches; the connector does not change when you upgrade.
What does the connector get access to?
There is no key to handle any more: connecting signs you in and StarHunt issues a token to your client, which expires on its own and can be revoked from Settings. A key still exists for clients that cannot run a sign-in flow, and it grants the same thing: developer search on public GitHub data. Neither a token nor a key can spend money, change your subscription or delete anything.
Can the assistant export my whole index?
No. MCP searches go through the same fair use limits as the web app, and there is no pagination: a search returns at most 25 profiles. An assistant that loops is stopped exactly like a script would be.
Does it work with Cursor and Claude Code?
Yes. Point them at the same address and they run the same sign-in flow. If your version does not support it yet, an API key works as a header.
Add the connector
Copy https://app.getstarhunt.com/mcp into your assistant and follow the sign-in. If you do not have an account, you create it on the way, and three free searches are enough to judge whether the results are worth keeping.
Curious how the ranking works first? Read the methodology, or see what one real search returned.