Install the plugin and connect MCP

You’ll wire three things up: the plugin (skills + rules + commands + MCP config), the CLI (which the skills shell out to for some operations), and the MCP server (so the agent can read live state from your Render workspace).

1. Install the plugin

Pick your editor and run the install. The plugin is the same in all three; only the command for installing it differs.

/plugin

/plugin marketplace update claude-plugins-official

/plugins

The skills bundle inside the plugin is synced from render-oss/skills, so you get all 21 of them by default - not just the three the docs call out.

2. Install the Render CLI

Several skills shell out to the Render CLI (render deploys list, render logs, render psql, …). Install version 2.10 or newer:

brew install render
# or upgrade an existing install
brew upgrade render

curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/render-oss/cli/main/bin/install.sh | sh

Sanity-check the version:

$render --version
render version 2.10.0 (or newer)

Then authenticate - this opens a browser to log in:

$render login
Opening https://dashboard.render.com/cli/login...
Logged in as you@example.com
$render whoami -o json
{ "email": "you@example.com", "workspace": "your-workspace" }

3. Wire up the MCP server

The plugin ships an mcp.json that points at https://mcp.render.com/mcp and expects a RENDER_API_KEY environment variable for auth. Generate a key from the Render Dashboard:

1. Open Account Settings -> API Keys https://dashboard.render.com/u/settings/api-keys
2. Click Create API Key Name it something like coding-agent-laptop so you can revoke it later.
3. Copy the key It starts with rnd_. You’ll only see it once.
4. Export it where your editor can read it Add it to your shell rc file so future sessions inherit it.

export RENDER_API_KEY=rnd_xxx...

Reload your shell, then restart your editor so the plugin’s MCP client picks the variable up:

source ~/.zshrc

4. Verify the agent can see your workspace

Open a fresh session in your editor inside any folder and ask:

List my Render services.

The agent should invoke a tool call against the Render MCP server (under the hood it’s list_services()). A healthy response looks like this:

Calling render -> list_services()...
You currently have 3 services in your workspace:

  1. notes-api (web_service, oregon, live)
  2. notes-cron (cron_job, oregon, suspended)
  3. notes-db (postgres, oregon, available)

Anything you'd like me to look at?

If your workspace is empty, you’ll get an empty list - that’s fine, you’ll fill it up in the next step.