How to Use MCP to Register Domains from Claude Desktop

What if you could say "register myapp.dev and deploy my repo" to Claude — and it just did it?

That's what the Model Context Protocol (MCP) enables. MCP lets AI assistants like Claude Desktop and Cursor call external tools directly. Hoist ships an MCP server that gives your AI assistant the ability to search domains, register them, configure DNS, and deploy code — all through conversation.

This guide walks you through setup in under 2 minutes.

What you'll need

  • Claude Desktop (or Cursor) — any editor that supports MCP servers
  • A Hoist account — sign up here to get your API key
  • Node.js 18+ installed on your machine

That's it. No reseller agreements, no ICANN paperwork, no DNS expertise.

Step 1: Get your Hoist API key

Sign up at hoist-g8do.polsia.app and grab your API key from the dashboard. You'll need it to authenticate MCP tool calls.

# Or sign up via CLI
curl -fsSL https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app/install.sh | sh
hoist signup

Your API key looks like hoist_sk_... — keep it handy.

Step 2: Add the Hoist MCP server

Option A: One-click config (recommended)

Hoist serves a ready-made MCP configuration at:

https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app/mcp/config.json

Download it and drop it into your Claude Desktop config directory. On macOS:

# Download the config
curl -o ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json \
  https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app/mcp/config.json

Then open the file and replace YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hoist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@hoist/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "HOIST_API_URL": "https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app",
        "HOIST_API_KEY": "hoist_sk_your_actual_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Option B: Manual setup

If you already have a claude_desktop_config.json with other MCP servers, add the hoist entry to your existing mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "your-existing-server": { "..." : "..." },
    "hoist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@hoist/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "HOIST_API_URL": "https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app",
        "HOIST_API_KEY": "hoist_sk_your_actual_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

For Cursor users

The same config works in Cursor. Add it to your workspace .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hoist": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@hoist/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "HOIST_API_URL": "https://hoist-g8do.polsia.app",
        "HOIST_API_KEY": "hoist_sk_your_actual_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Restart and verify

Restart Claude Desktop (or Cursor). You should see the Hoist tools appear in your tool list. The MCP server provides six tools:

Tool What it does
search_domain Check if a domain is available across supported TLDs
register_domain Register an available domain
get_pricing Get pricing for all supported TLDs
check_status Check the status of a domain you own
deploy Deploy code to a registered domain
manage_dns Add or remove DNS records

Step 4: Use it

Now just talk to Claude. Here are real examples:

Search for a domain

"Is coolstartup.dev available?"

Claude will call search_domain and tell you the price and availability.

Register a domain

"Register coolstartup.dev for me"

Claude calls register_domain, which returns a Stripe payment link. Click it, pay, and the domain activates automatically via webhook.

Deploy to your domain

"Deploy my GitHub repo github.com/user/my-app to coolstartup.dev"

Claude calls deploy with your repo URL and domain. Hoist clones, builds, deploys, configures DNS, and provisions SSL. Your site is live in seconds.

Full workflow in one conversation

"Find me a .dev domain for my recipe sharing app, register it, and deploy the code from github.com/user/recipe-app"

Claude will:

  1. Search for available .dev domains related to recipes
  2. Register your chosen domain
  3. Deploy your code to it
  4. Report back with the live URL

No tab switching. No dashboards. No DNS panels.

How it works under the hood

When Claude calls a Hoist MCP tool, here's what happens:

Claude Desktop → MCP Protocol → @hoist/mcp-server (local)
    → HTTPS → Hoist API (hoist-g8do.polsia.app)
        → Domain registration / DNS / Deploy
    ← JSON response
← Tool result displayed in chat

The MCP server runs locally on your machine as a stdio process. It translates Claude's tool calls into authenticated Hoist API requests. Responses come back as structured JSON that Claude can parse and present naturally.

Security note: Your API key stays local — it's stored in your config file and sent directly from your machine to the Hoist API. Claude never sees or stores your key.

Supported TLDs and pricing

Hoist supports 14 TLDs starting at $2.99/year:

TLD Price/year Best for
.com $12.99 General purpose
.dev $14.99 Developer tools
.app $14.99 Applications
.io $39.99 Tech startups
.ai $79.99 AI products
.co $11.99 Companies
.net $11.99 Networks
.org $11.99 Organizations
.xyz $2.99 Experimental
.site $3.99 Websites
.online $4.99 Online businesses
.tech $6.99 Technology
.store $4.99 E-commerce
.fun $2.99 Side projects

Check the latest pricing with the get_pricing tool or at hoist-g8do.polsia.app/docs.

Troubleshooting

"Tool not found" in Claude Desktop

  • Make sure you restarted Claude Desktop after editing the config
  • Verify the config JSON is valid (no trailing commas)
  • Check that npx is in your PATH

"Authentication failed"

  • Double-check your API key in the config — it should start with hoist_sk_
  • Make sure you replaced YOUR_API_KEY_HERE with your actual key

"Domain not available"

  • Try a different TLD: .dev, .app, .xyz have more inventory
  • Use search_domain with just the name to check all TLDs at once

MCP server not starting

  • Run npx @hoist/mcp-server manually in your terminal to see error output
  • Ensure Node.js 18+ is installed: node --version

What's next

Once you've got MCP set up, you can build workflows where AI agents autonomously:

  • Register a domain for every new project
  • Deploy staging environments on-demand
  • Manage DNS records as part of infrastructure-as-conversation
  • Spin up landing pages from a product brief

Check out our guide on deploying an AI agent to a custom domain in 60 seconds for a complete end-to-end tutorial.

Hoist — Domain + Deploy in one command. Get started →