Connect your Zerodha account to AI assistants with Kite MCP

You can now connect your Zerodha account to AI assistants like Claude, Cursor, and Windsurf completely free of charge with the new Kite Model Context Protocol (MCP). With this, you instantly get a personal financial assistant that understands your portfolio and can answer complex questions in any language of your choice.

What is Model Context Protocol (MCP)?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a communication standard that enables AI assistants to interact with real-world data and services. Rather than relying only on pre-trained knowledge, AI tools can now access live information from your Zerodha account. 

In simple terms, MCP enables AI assistants to provide:

• Real-time data access: Access current market prices, not just historical data
• Personalised insights: Analyse your specific portfolio, not just give generic insights
• Interactive capabilities: Not just answer questions – but retrieve precise information you need
• Natural conversation: Ask about complex market data in plain language

Without MCP, AI assistants are limited to the generic information available on the internet and can’t give responses specific to your account.

MCP is supported by multiple AI platforms including Claude, Windsurf, and Cursor, giving you flexibility in choosing which AI tool works best for your needs

Setting up Kite MCP

Claude (Desktop)

Install Node.js

• Download and install Node.js from nodejs.org
• Verify installation by opening Command Prompt and typing node –version

Configure Claude Desktop

• Open Claude Desktop application
• Go to Settings (gear icon)
• Click on Developer in the left sidebar
• Click Edit Config
• Add the following configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "kite": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.kite.trade/sse"]
        }
    }
}

• Save and restart Claude Desktop

For a visual walkthrough of the setup process, check out this step-by-step video guide on configuring MCP for Claude Desktop.

Verify Connection

• In Claude Desktop, look for the tools/hammer icon in the chat interface
• Click it to verify Kite MCP tools are available
• Follow the authorisation prompts to connect to your Zerodha account

Visual Studio Code

If you prefer using Visual Studio Code with AI extensions, you can also configure Kite MCP:

Prerequisites

• Visual Studio Code installed
• Node.js installed
• VS Code GitHub Copilot extension or another AI extension that supports MCP

Configuration Steps

1. Open VS Code settings (File > Preferences > Settings, or press Ctrl+,)
2. Search for “copilot chat mcp” or navigate to the GitHub Copilot Chat configuration
3. Click on Edit in settings.json
4. Add the following configuration to your settings.json file:

   "mcp": {
        "inputs": [],
        "servers": {
            "kite": {
                "url": "https://mcp.kite.trade/sse"
            }
        }
    }

1. Save the settings file and restart VS Code
2. Open the Copilot Chat panel and use the /mcp command to verify that Kite is listed as an available MCP server
3. When prompted, authorise your Zerodha account to connect with VS Code

For more detailed information on setting up MCP servers in VS Code, refer to the official documentation.

Setup on Linux (Ubuntu/Debian)

There are two unofficial builds for Claude Desktop on Linux:

Using aaddrick’s Debian/Ubuntu build

• GitHub Repository
• Installation:

   git clone https://github.com/aaddrick/claude-desktop-debian.git
    cd claude-desktop-debian
    chmod +x build.sh
    ./build.sh
    sudo dpkg -i ./claude-desktop_*.deb

Using k3d3’s Nix Flake method

• GitHub Repository
• Quick run:

   NIXPKGS_ALLOW_UNFREE=1 nix run github:k3d3/claude-desktop-linux-flake --impure

After installing with either method, configure MCP:

   mkdir -p ~/.config/Claude
    nano ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following:

   {
        "mcpServers": {
            "kite": {
                "command": "npx",
                "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.kite.trade/sse"]
            }
        }
    }

Alternatively, you can use Claude Code (official Linux support):

   npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code
claude
/mcp add

When prompted, set up the Kite MCP server with the remote URL.

What can you do with Kite MCP?

With Kite MCP connected to Claude, you can have conversations about your portfolio and the markets in natural language. Here are some examples of what is currently available:

Portfolio analysis

• Ask for a breakdown of your portfolio performance across different time periods
  

• Get insights into your sector exposure and diversification
  

Here are some portfolio insights you can request from Claude:

• Create alerts when your portfolio drifts from target allocations
• Check which of your holdings has the highest percentage gain today
• View your current positions and their unrealised P&L
• Research stocks in natural language while seeing how they would fit with your existing portfolio
• Generate portfolio reports, comparisons, and visualisations instead of manual calculations

Research

• Set up GTT orders to implement systematic entry and exit strategies at predetermined price points
  

• Analyse your portfolio performance to identify patterns and improve your approach. You can even plan your trades, refine your strategies, size your positions and risk.
  

Try these market research capabilities:

• Create custom technical indicators and overlay them with price charts
• You can also pull historical data to backtest strategies and visualise their performance
• Analyse correlations between your holdings and market indices
• Get current price data, trading volumes, and key statistics for any stock

Account information

• Check your available margins and buying power
• Review your account’s P&L for the day
• Understand your portfolio’s risk profile
  

Please note: Order placement, historical trade data, portfolio data, and some other features are currently unavailable. Kite MCP primarily provides market data and portfolio analysis capabilities at this time.

Example use cases

Portfolio review

Ask Claude: Could you analyse my current portfolio holdings with the following details: top 5 positions by market value, best and worst performers, sector distribution, overall portfolio beta and volatility, and unrealised P&L summary? Also plot my portfolio curve against an equal-weight composite index of Nifty500, Gold and Nifty 10 year G-Sec index.

Analysing F&O positions

Ask Claude: Please group my open positions based on the underlying and calculate net delta of my option strategies

Market overview

Ask Claude: Please provide a summary of today’s market conditions including major index movements, sector performance, any notable news affecting my holdings, and stocks with unusual volume or price action.

Stock analysis

Ask Claude: What’s the current price of Infosys stock? Show me the day’s high and low, and compare its performance to the Nifty 50 today.

Portfolio insights

Ask Claude: Which sectors am I most heavily invested in? What percentage of my portfolio is in large-cap stocks?

Security and privacy

Zerodha takes security seriously with the Kite MCP implementation:

• Limited access: Claude can only access data you explicitly authorise
• No credential storage: Your Zerodha credentials never pass through Claude. Instead, authentication happens externally through Kite’s secure two-factor authentication flow
• Read-only operations: All operations are read-only – order placement is not available except for GTT orders

If you have any queries about Kite MCP, please post them in the comments below. Alternatively, you can also ask questions on our Trading Q&A thread here.