NORNR mark NORNR Policy decisions, review and audit trail before consequential local tool execution clears.
Control room

Claude Desktop / 9 minutes

MCP control guide

How to add the NORNR MCP control server to Claude Desktop.

Use Claude Desktop as the local interface, but keep consequential tool execution behind one NORNR decision, one review path and one finance-safe record afterward.

You will add
  • one MCP control server inside Claude Desktop
  • one default local-tools policy pack for first rollout
  • one review and proof path for queued local tool actions
Best for
  • teams already using Claude Desktop to call consequential tools
  • operators who need review before local tool use can create spend or vendor action
  • buyers who need desktop tooling to read like the same control plane as hosted runtime spend

1. Why Claude Desktop needs a control layer above raw MCP tools

Raw MCP tooling exposes capability. It does not decide whether a local tool request should happen under the active mandate, who should review it above threshold, or what record finance receives later.

NORNR fixes that by turning one local tool request into a governed intent. Approved requests stay fast. Queued requests land in review. The same action survives into review bundle, finance packet and timeline later.

2. Install and authenticate once

bash 
pip install nornr-agentpay
nornr login --open-browser

3. Generate the Claude Desktop MCP config

bash 
nornr mcp claude-config --server-name nornr --agent-id claude-desktop-agent

Paste the resulting stanza into Claude Desktop MCP settings, or open the MCP config generator if you want the same setup through a form.

4. Start with one consequential local tool lane

The best first lane is one tool request that already matters outside the desktop client.

  • a local tool call that can trigger vendor-side work
  • a paid provider request that should clear budget and counterparty posture first
  • a local action that should queue above a threshold instead of running autonomously

Use the default mcp-local-tools-guarded posture first. Shadow or review-first mode is a better first step than broad local autonomy.

5. What NORNR exposes through MCP

  • nornr.check_spend and nornr.request_spend for intent and decision
  • nornr.approve_spend, nornr.reject_spend and nornr.pending_approvals for review
  • nornr.review_bundle, nornr.finance_packet, nornr.weekly_review and nornr.intent_timeline for proof and export

6. The buyer-safe lane to prove first

  1. Claude Desktop proposes one local tool action.
  2. NORNR decides approved, queued or blocked.
  3. Queued work lands in one review path with the reason attached.
  4. The resulting action survives into export later.

That is the point of MCP productization for NORNR: local tooling stops being a governance blind spot.

7. Where to go next