Glean Integration

Glean acts as an MCP host: it connects to remote MCP servers and lets people call their tools from Glean Assistant and Glean Agents. This guide connects the HG MCP Server to Glean as a custom remote MCP server, so your teams can use HG Insights company, technographic, contact, intent, spend, product research, SEC filing, and government contracting data inside Glean, for example to pull a company's technology stack in the middle of an account-research workflow.

A Glean admin adds the HG MCP Server once for the whole Glean tenant, using an HG Insights API key. This guide connects to the current HG MCP tool suite (v2). Every HG request from Glean runs under the account that owns that key, and its credits are charged to that account's organization.

Before you start

Requirement	Details
Glean access	Admin access to the Glean Admin console, with permission to open Platform → Tools.
HG Insights account	An HG Insights account with MCP access, registered with a corporate email address. Personal addresses (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo and similar) aren't accepted.
HG API key	A standard user API key, which starts with phx_. See Step 1.
Network	The HG MCP Server is a public HTTPS endpoint at phoenix.hginsights.com. You don't need the proxy or IP allowlisting that Glean requires for MCP servers hosted in a private network or VPC.

Connectors catalog or Platform → Tools

Glean deployments created on or after September 22, 2026 set up catalog-backed MCP integrations from Connectors. HG Insights connects as a custom server, so add it from Platform → Tools as described below.

Connection details at a glance

Setting	Value
MCP server name	HG MCP Server
MCP server URL	https://phoenix.hginsights.com/api/mcp/v2
Transport type	Streaming HTTP
Glean authentication method	API Key
Credential	HG API key, sent as Authorization: Bearer <key>

API key is the only supported method

Glean connects to HG Insights with an API key. Glean's other authentication methods, including OAuth, Dynamic Client Registration, OAuth Admin, and OAuth Client Credentials, aren't supported for this integration.

Don't use the API-key-in-URL form (/api/ai/YOUR_API_KEY/mcp) with Glean. It serves the older v1 tools, and a key in a URL is easier to leak. Glean's API Key method sends the key in a header, which is what /api/mcp/v2 expects.

1. Get your HG API key

1. Sign in to HG Insights at phoenix.hginsights.com.
2. Select MCP in the sidebar.
3. Copy your API key. HG keys start with phx_.

Handle the key like a password

Store it in your secrets manager. Never commit it to version control or paste it into shared documents. Use a dedicated key for the Glean connection so you can rotate or revoke it without affecting other integrations.

Don't use an admin key

Admin API keys also start with phx_, but while their owner is an org admin they expose only admin tools, not the normal HG data tools. Use a standard user key for Glean. See Authentication → Admin keys.

2. Add the HG MCP Server

1. In Glean, open the Admin console.

2. Go to Platform → Tools and open the Vendor Provided Tools (via MCP) tab.

3. Click Add. In the Add tools dialog, open the Vendor provided tools (via MCP) tab.

4. Select Import tools from MCP server.

5. Fill in the server configuration:

   Glean field	Value
   MCP server name	HG MCP Server
   Description	HG Insights company, technology, intent, and spend intelligence (or your own wording)
   MCP server URL	https://phoenix.hginsights.com/api/mcp/v2
   Transport type	Streaming HTTP
   Authentication method	API Key. Paste your HG API key. Glean sends it as Authorization: Bearer <key> by default, which is what HG Insights expects. X-API-Key: <key> also works if you choose Use a different header.

6. Click Save.

3. Connect to the server

1. Click Connect to server. Glean connects with the API key and retrieves the list of HG tools.
2. Confirm that the HG tools appear in the tool list.

4. Enable tools

1. Click Edit settings and review the list of HG tools.
2. For each tool you want to make available:
   • Enable it for Agents so agent creators can use it in Agent Builder.
   • Optionally, enable it for Glean so Glean Assistant can call it in chat.
   • Optionally, apply role-based access so only specific creators or departments can add sensitive tools, such as contact tools, to agents.
3. Click Save.

Start narrow

Begin with a small set of high-value tools so the model reliably picks the right one. Good first candidates are search_companies, company_firmographic, company_technographic, and contact_search. You can add more later. See MCP Tools for the full catalog and the credit cost of each tool.

5. Verify it works

From Glean Assistant, ask a question that should trigger an HG tool and check that Glean calls it and returns HG Insights data. For example:

• "What HG MCP Server tools are available?"
• "Use the HG MCP Server to tell me what technologies Salesforce uses."
• "Use the HG MCP Server to list companies in the healthcare industry."

From Agent Builder:

1. Create a test agent.
2. Add a Plan and execute step and select the HG MCP Server.
3. Run the agent with a sample query and check that an HG tool is called and returns data.

Using HG tools in Glean

In Glean Assistant, users call HG tools in natural language. Glean picks tools based on each tool's schema and the user's question, so naming the HG MCP Server in the prompt helps while you roll it out.

In Glean Agents, agent creators add HG tools in Agent Builder through a Plan and execute step, or in autonomous agents. You can chain HG tools with other Glean tools, for example to pull a company's technology stack from HG and pass the result to a summarization step.

MCP tools only run in Plan and execute steps

Glean makes MCP servers available only in Plan and execute steps and in autonomous agents. They don't appear in single-step selections in Agent Builder.

Security and best practices

• One key per integration. Give the Glean connection its own HG API key so you can rotate or revoke it without affecting other integrations.
• Rotate keys regularly, and immediately after any suspected compromise. Revoke keys for integrations you've retired.
• Least privilege in Glean. Enable only the HG tools your users need, and use role-based access for tools that return contact-level data.
• Name prompts and agent steps after outcomes. Clear, job-focused names improve tool selection.
• Monitor usage. Use Glean's audit and insights features to see how Glean Assistant and Glean Agents use the connection, and the HG Insights app to track credit consumption.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to check
Glean connects, but no HG tools appear	Check the URL is https://phoenix.hginsights.com/api/mcp/v2, the transport type is Streaming HTTP, and the key is a standard user key, not an admin key. Then click Connect to server again.
401 Unauthorized	Check the key is pasted correctly, starts with phx_, and hasn't been rotated or revoked. If you changed the header under Use a different header, use Authorization: Bearer or X-API-Key.
406 Not Acceptable	Glean sent an Accept header the HG MCP Server doesn't support. HG Insights accepts application/json, text/event-stream, both together, or */*. Contact your HG Insights account team with the request details.
Tool calls time out	HG MCP Server calls time out after 60 seconds. Narrow the request, paginate large results, or use the HG REST API for batch work.
403 Forbidden	Your organization doesn't have access to the HG MCP tools. Contact your HG Insights account team.
HG tools don't appear in Agent Builder	Check the tool is enabled for Agents under Edit settings, the agent creator's role has access to it, and you're adding it in a Plan and execute step.

For anything not covered here, contact your HG Insights account team. For Glean-side issues, contact your Glean account team or Glean Support.

Technical details

• Transport: Streamable HTTP
• Accept header: HG Insights accepts application/json, text/event-stream, both together, or */*
• Authentication: HG API key in Authorization: Bearer <key> (or x-api-key: <key>)
• MCP server URL: https://phoenix.hginsights.com/api/mcp/v2
• Tool suite: v2. See the v1 → v2 changelog if you're moving an existing integration from v1
• Timeout: 60 seconds per tool call

Related

• Authentication
• Getting Started
• Supported MCP Clients
• MCP Tools
• Best Practices
• Connect remote MCP servers to Glean (Glean documentation)