Claude is the most popular AI model for developers, but it can't answer crypto questions with live data out of the box. Ask Claude "what is the current TVL on Aave?" and you'll get a confident training-cutoff answer — not today's number. This guide fixes that in about five minutes by connecting Claude to Hive Intelligence, the managed crypto MCP server for AI agents. One MCP endpoint grounds Claude in live prices, DeFi activity, wallet positions, and token risk — no schema work, no provider-by-provider integration.

What Claude will be able to do

By the end of this guide, Claude will answer questions like these with live data:

"What is the current price of Solana and how has it moved in the last 24 hours?"
"Show me the top five DeFi protocols by TVL this week."
"Is the token at 0x6982508145454Ce325dDbE47a25d4ec3d2311933 safe to interact with?"
"What are the balances in the wallet 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045?"
"Which prediction markets on Polymarket have the largest open interest right now?"

All of this comes from one MCP connection. Claude discovers the available tools at runtime, so new providers or tools are picked up automatically -- no code changes required.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or any Claude-compatible MCP client.
A Hive Intelligence account. Create one here -- no credit card required.
Roughly five minutes.

Step 1: Create a Hive API key

Go to hiveintelligence.xyz/dashboard.
Sign up or sign in.
Open API Keys and click Create key.
Copy the key somewhere safe -- you will paste it into Claude in the next step.

The Free Demo tier includes 10,000 monthly credits and 30 requests per minute. One tool call is one credit. That is enough to follow this guide and prototype an agent. Pricing details are one page away if you need more later.

Step 2: Connect Claude to Hive

Pick the Claude surface you use.

Option A: Claude Code (CLI)

Run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add --transport http hive "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp" \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY"

Replace YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY with the key from Step 1. Claude Code prints a confirmation line. The tools are available the next time you open a session. For the full flag reference (scopes, Bearer-token auth, stdio alternative), see the dedicated Claude Code install page.

Option B: Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop adds remote MCP servers through the Custom Connectors UI, not through claude_desktop_config.json (which is stdio-only). In Claude Desktop:

Settings → Connectors in the sidebar.
Hover Add custom, click Web.
Set Name to Hive, URL to https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp, Authentication to Bearer token, and paste your Hive API key.
Click Add. Claude validates the connection and lists Hive's tools.

Available on Free (one connector), Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. For an air-gapped or proxy-only setup, the dedicated Claude Desktop install page covers the stdio fallback that does go through claude_desktop_config.json.

Option C: Claude API with a third-party MCP client

If you are calling the Claude API directly (not through a desktop client), use any MCP-over-HTTP bridge -- the MCP TypeScript SDK or MCP Python SDK both work. Point the client at https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp and pass an Authorization: Bearer header. The raw JSON-RPC shape is:

curl -X POST https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY" \
  -d '{
    "jsonrpc": "2.0",
    "method": "tools/list",
    "id": 1
  }'

Step 3: Verify the connection

Claude Code: run /mcp inside any session. You should see hive with a tool count.
Claude Desktop: click the tools icon. hive should appear as a connected server.

If hive is missing, jump to Troubleshooting below.

Step 4: Ask Claude a live-data question

Try each of these prompts. Each one exercises a different Hive tool category.

Price check

What is the current price of Bitcoin and Ethereum?

Claude calls get_price (CoinGecko). You should see real-time USD prices.

DeFi overview

Show me the top five DeFi protocols by TVL.

Claude calls get_defi_protocols (DeFiLlama). Expect a ranked list with TVL, 24-hour change, and chain breakdown.

Token safety

Is the token at 0x6982508145454Ce325dDbE47a25d4ec3d2311933 safe? Check for honeypot risk and owner privileges.

Claude calls get_token_security (GoPlus). That address is PEPE -- a real token. Claude reports honeypot status, buy/sell tax, ownership privileges, and proxy contract flags.

Wallet inspection

What are the token balances in 0xd8dA6BF26964aF9D7eEd9e03E53415D37aA96045?

Claude calls moralis_get_wallet_token_balances. That address is vitalik.eth -- publicly known and safe to probe.

Prediction markets

Which prediction markets on Polymarket have the largest open interest right now?

Claude calls get_polymarket_markets (Codex). Expect a ranked list of active markets with dollar volume.

Step 5: Switch to a category endpoint for focused agents

The root /mcp endpoint exposes the compact discovery and routing layer -- great for general-purpose Claude agents that may reach into any domain. If you are building a focused agent (a trading bot, for example) and only need one category, point at a narrower endpoint so Claude has a smaller direct tool list to reason over.

Category	Endpoint
Market data	`/hive_market_data/mcp`
DeFi protocols	`/hive_defi_protocol/mcp`
DEX analytics	`/hive_onchain_dex/mcp`
Security & risk	`/hive_security_risk/mcp`
Portfolio & wallet	`/hive_portfolio_wallet/mcp`
Prediction markets	`/hive_prediction_markets/mcp`

Claude Desktop can connect to multiple category endpoints at once. A "market + security" agent, for example:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hive-market": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/hive_market_data/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY" }
    },
    "hive-security": {
      "url": "https://mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz/hive_security_risk/mcp",
      "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_HIVE_API_KEY" }
    }
  }
}

See the full list on the Crypto MCP Server page.

Troubleshooting

"Invalid API key" or 401 responses

Copy the key again from the dashboard. Trailing spaces and stray newlines are the most common culprit.
Confirm you are using the Authorization: Bearer YOUR_KEY header. x-api-key: YOUR_KEY is also accepted -- but don't send both at once.

Claude doesn't see Hive after a restart

Double-check the config file path (macOS vs. Windows paths differ).
Validate the JSON -- a missing comma silently prevents Claude from loading the server list.
In Claude Code, run claude mcp list to confirm the server was added.

429 rate limit responses

Free Demo is 30 req/min. Back off and retry.
Upgrade to Analyst for 500 req/min or Pro for 1,000 req/min.
If you are polling prices, cache for 30 seconds on your side -- Hive already deduplicates upstream calls, but local cache saves credits.

"Tool not found" errors

Tool names use snake_case (for example get_price, not getPrice).
If you connected to a category endpoint, only that category's tools are visible. Switch to /mcp for the full catalog.
Runtime discovery: ask Claude "list all available Hive tools" and it will call tools/list.

Crypto MCP Server -- endpoint reference and category list
API Integration -- REST, MCP, and discovery surfaces
Tools Reference -- browse every tool with input schemas
Playground -- try tools in the browser before wiring up Claude
Pricing -- credits, rate limits, and plan comparison