What do I have to fill in when I install the Tares plugin for Claude Code?

Tares asks for four things when you install the Tares plugin for Claude Code: the Tares URL, the MCP endpoint, an optional access token and a capture toggle. On a local Tares the two defaults already match tares up, so you can accept them and leave the token empty. The token is only for a secured instance.

How it works

The plugin does two jobs from one install, and each prompt belongs to one of them or to both.

• Tares URL is the base URL of the Tares daemon. Hooks ship new transcript lines there on each prompt, tool use and session end. The default is http://127.0.0.1:8787, which matches tares up. Use your own instance’s URL otherwise.
• MCP endpoint is where the session reads Tares over MCP. The default is http://127.0.0.1:8788/mcp. Every session shares this one endpoint, and the plugin starts no MCP process of its own.
• Access token is optional. You need it only on a secured instance. Use a read + ingest API key so the plugin can both stream sessions and read back over MCP. The plugin stores it in the OS keychain.
• Stream this session into Tares is the capture toggle. It is on by default.

The plugin creates the push source on the daemon the first time it runs, so you do not set up a source by hand. Capture is forward-only. Sessions stream from the moment the plugin is installed, and transcripts already on disk are not backfilled.

This page is part of the AI SRE cluster. The Claude Code connector page covers the connector itself in full.

Set it up

1. Start Tares locally and, in a second terminal, start the MCP endpoint that every session shares:

tares up
tares mcp --transport streamable-http

2. In Claude Code, add the marketplace and install the plugin:

/plugin marketplace add glassflow/tares
/plugin install tares@tares

The console also has a one-click page under Sources, Add source, claude_code. It shows the same install command wired to your instance’s URL, and to its token if it needs one.

3. Answer the prompts:

   • Tares URL: keep http://127.0.0.1:8787 for a local Tares.
   • MCP endpoint: keep http://127.0.0.1:8788/mcp.
   • Access token: leave it empty unless your instance is secured. If it is, paste a read + ingest API key.
   • Stream this session into Tares: leave it on to capture the session.

4. On Tares Cloud, you do not copy a URL or a key. With the tares CLI at 1.45.0 or later and plugin 0.5.0 or later, sign in and pick your workspace in the browser:

tares login

This machine gets its own key on that workspace, and the plugin picks it up. Leave Tares URL and Access token as they came. Set MCP endpoint to the address tares login prints, which ends in /mcp on your workspace. Run /plugin in Claude Code, pick tares, then Configure. A Tares URL or access token you set by hand wins over the login. On Tares Cloud there is nothing to start for MCP.

5. If you upgrade from plugin 0.3 or earlier on a local install, start the MCP endpoint with tares mcp --transport streamable-http. From 0.4.0, read-back needs it running.

6. Start a Claude Code session and do some work. Then ask the agent:

Use tares to show me my current session’s timeline.

What you get

• Your Claude Code sessions land in Tares as a queryable source, one event per message, keyed by session. The labels are project, branch and model, and token-usage fields come with them.
• Sub-agent messages roll up into the same source.
• The same agent can read the data plane back over the shared MCP endpoint. You can correlate what the agent did with what your systems did.
• Redaction of obvious secrets and tokens runs server-side before anything is stored. It is on by default. Assistant thinking blocks are left out unless you turn on include_thinking.
• In the console, Explore lists sessions under the session key, and the source’s Recent events shows messages as they ship.
• Setup is one install, with no manual source setup.

When something else fits

• If you do not want a session captured, turn off Stream this session into Tares for that session.
• If you need transcripts that already exist on disk, note that capture is forward-only and does not backfill them.
• If your agent is not Claude Code, use the MCP route for Cursor, Codex or your own agents instead of this plugin.

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