> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://www.c1.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Set up the Metronome MCP server

> Create a Metronome API token, then register the Metronome MCP server in C1 and govern the tools your AI clients can call.

<Note>
  **Activation required.** AI access management must be enabled for your tenant before you can use it. To get started, [contact the C1 support team](mailto:support@c1.ai) for a walkthrough.
</Note>

The Metronome MCP server lets you govern access to Metronome — customers, contracts, invoices, billable metrics, products, rate cards, and usage data — as tools your AI clients can call through C1.

Metronome authenticates with an API token that C1 sends as a bearer token. A single token authenticates everyone, so all tool calls reach Metronome as one shared identity.

## How C1 connects to Metronome

C1 hosts the Metronome MCP server, so your users' AI clients only ever see MCP tools — they never call Metronome directly. When an AI client calls one of these tools, C1 makes the matching request to the Metronome API using the credentials you configure here, then returns the result to the AI client.

The credentials you set up below are what C1 uses to call Metronome on your users' behalf.

## Before you begin

* AI access management must be enabled for your tenant. See [Enable AI access management](/product/admin/enable-ai-access-management).
* A Metronome account that can create API tokens. New tokens inherit the permissions of the user that created them, so create the token under an account that has the access you want this integration to have.

<Note>
  If you don't see **Metronome** in your MCP server catalog, [contact the C1 support team](mailto:support@c1.ai) to enable it for your tenant.
</Note>

## Create a Metronome API token

Create an API token in the Metronome app for C1 to authenticate with.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Sign in to the Metronome app. See Metronome's [API authorization](https://docs.metronome.com/developer-resources/use-api/authorization/) docs for creating a token.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select **Connections** in the navigation bar, then **API tokens & webhooks**.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Select **+ Add**, enter a descriptive name such as `C1`, then select **Create new token**.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Copy the token immediately. Metronome shows the full token only once and you cannot view it again after you dismiss the dialog.
  </Step>
</Steps>

For a shared production setup, create the token under a dedicated service-account user so activity is attributable to C1 rather than a person. If your Metronome account enforces an inbound IP allowlist, add C1's egress IPs to it. See [Network requirements](/product/admin/requirements).

## How Metronome credentials are shared

Every user's tool calls use the one API token you provided, so Metronome sees a single shared identity. C1 still attributes each call to the individual user in the [AI tool usage audit log](/product/admin/audit-ai-tool-usage). For a shared production setup, create the token from a dedicated service-account user so Metronome activity is attributable to C1 rather than a person.

For how shared and per-user credentials work across MCP servers, see [Configure authentication](/product/admin/mcp-servers#configure-authentication).

## Register the Metronome MCP server in C1

With your API token ready, register the server and provide it to C1.

<Steps>
  <Step>
    Follow [Register an MCP server](/product/admin/mcp-servers#register-an-mcp-server) and select **Metronome** from the catalog.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    When you [configure authentication](/product/admin/mcp-servers#configure-authentication), choose **Bearer token** and paste your Metronome API token.
  </Step>

  <Step>
    Save your changes. C1 starts a sync that discovers the tools the Metronome server exposes.
  </Step>
</Steps>

## Discover and govern tools

After you register the server, C1 runs tool discovery against Metronome. Discovered tools appear on the server's **Tools** tab.

Each tool starts as either **Pending review** or automatically **Approved**, depending on the option chosen when the server was set up or your tenant's default tool settings in **Settings** > **AI Connections**. See [Require tool approval](/product/admin/enable-ai-access-management#require-tool-approval) and [Default tool classification](/product/admin/enable-ai-access-management#default-tool-classification).

Before anyone can call a Metronome tool, it must be approved, added to a toolset, and bound to an access profile. Continue to [Govern tools and toolsets](/product/admin/tools-and-toolsets) to set this up.

<Note>
  Tool discovery runs even if your credentials are incorrect, so seeing discovered tools doesn't confirm that authentication is working. You confirm your Metronome credentials when an approved user successfully calls a Metronome tool from their AI client.
</Note>

## Manage your Metronome credentials

* **Rotate the API token** by creating a new one in Metronome under **Connections** > **API tokens & webhooks**, updating it in C1, then archiving the old token with the trash icon. Metronome recommends removing unused tokens and rotating tokens in use regularly. Archival is permanent, so confirm the new token works before you archive the old one.
* **Adjust access** by creating the token under a user whose permissions match the access you want, since a token inherits its creator's permissions. To scope a token further by access level, environment, or endpoint, contact your Metronome representative.