TikTok MCP for Codex: connect in one config table

Give Codex all of TikTok. One table in ~/.codex/config.toml connects TokConnect, and Codex can see what people search, watch, say and buy: search demand, videos, comments, transcripts, creators, hashtags, sounds and TikTok Shop sales, 34 tools in all.

1. Get your key. Copy it from app.tokconnect.com/api-key. No key? Skip this step and use codex mcp login tokconnect after step 2.
2. Add the table. Put the [mcp_servers.tokconnect] table below into ~/.codex/config.toml and export TOKCONNECT_TOKEN with your key.
3. Check and ask. Run codex mcp list, look for tokconnect with 34 tools, then ask, for example, "What do people search on TikTok about my product that no video answers?"

Connected, Codex answers TikTok questions with real numbers while you work: search demand, videos, comments, creators and TikTok Shop sales. Prefer no key? Sign in with codex mcp login instead; both routes are below.

Every plan, Free included, gets all 34 tools. Free gives 50 credits once, one credit pays for one lookup and failed lookups cost nothing. Paid plans start at $34.99 a month billed yearly ($49 billed monthly), with 500 credits a month on Starter.

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Free to use on your site, in a deck or a newsletter with a credit link to TokConnect. Copy the code below.

<a href="https://tokconnect.com/connect/codex/"><img src="https://tokconnect.com/graphics/codex/summary.png" alt="Connect TikTok search data to Codex in one config table: 34 TikTok tools once TokConnect is connected; 60s default Codex tool timeout (10s to start); 76.2K 7-day TikTok searches for &quot;codex plugins&quot;; 138.4K searches for &quot;codex tips and tricks&quot;, 0 videos" width="1200" height="630" style="max-width:100%;height:auto"></a><br>Source: <a href="https://tokconnect.com/connect/codex/">TikTok MCP for Codex: Config and Sign-in | TokConnect</a>

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What you can ask once connected

Ask in plain words. No tool names needed.

The config

Add this table to ~/.codex/config.toml:

[mcp_servers.tokconnect]
url = "https://mcp.tokconnect.com/mcp"
bearer_token_env_var = "TOKCONNECT_TOKEN"
enabled = true

Prefer no key? Skip the variable and sign in instead: codex mcp login tokconnect.

Or let the CLI write it:

codex mcp add tokconnect \
  --url https://mcp.tokconnect.com/mcp \
  --bearer-token-env-var TOKCONNECT_TOKEN

Both produce the same table. url is what tells Codex this is a remote server rather than a local command, so there is no separate transport field to set.

Two optional keys are worth knowing. startup_timeout_sec defaults to 10 and tool_timeout_sec to 60, per OpenAI's Codex MCP docs. A broad TikTok video search can run long enough to want the second one raised.

Where the key goes

Into the environment, under whatever name you put in bearer_token_env_var:

export TOKCONNECT_TOKEN="YOUR_TOKCONNECT_KEY"
codex

The variable has to exist in the process that runs Codex. Exporting it in one terminal does nothing for a Codex session already open in another, or for the IDE extension. Set it wherever your shell starts, then restart the surface you use.

Or sign in without a key

Codex supports sign-in for remote MCP servers, including automatic client registration, according to OpenAI's MCP docs, and TokConnect supports it. Leave out bearer_token_env_var, keep the url, then run:

codex mcp login tokconnect

A browser window opens on the TokConnect consent page, and Codex stores the token itself. Pick one route per server entry: a key in the environment or an OAuth sign-in, not both.

Your first TikTok MCP call in Codex

Run codex mcp list from a shell, or type /mcp inside a Codex session. It should show tokconnect with 34 tools (the full list is in the tool catalog snapshot). Then make the smallest call on the server:

The answer was:

{
  "count": 3,
  "suggestions": [
    { "text": "protein" },
    { "text": "protein for gym" },
    { "text": "protein recipes" }
  ]
}

Data: TikTok autocomplete via TokConnect, pulled 19 September 2026. Open the snapshot. Autocomplete is live, so your third line may differ.

If that comes back, Codex read the config, the server accepted the key and a tool ran. The TikTok MCP guide covers the rest of the tools.

For developers: the 34 tools

The 34 tools cover TikTok's search demand (demand_find_topics, demand_topic, demand_keywords), videos, comments and captions (video_search, video), creators, sounds, hashtags, places and LIVE, the live TikTok Shop catalogue (shop_browse, product, shop) and Shop Analytics: TikTok Shop sales estimates from product_top_selling, shop_top_selling, creator_top_selling, video_top_selling, live_top_selling and category_trends. The server also ships six MCP prompts: winning products, find affiliates, competitor shop, product deep-dive, niche research and content ideas. Clients that support MCP prompts list them next to the tools.

Example answer: what TikTok searches for "codex"

Once connected, the useful calls are the search-demand ones. As a test, we asked TokConnect what people type into TikTok around the word "codex". The answer shows why the typed searches matter more than the seed word.

"codex" means at least four things on TikTok: an Aritzia trouser line, a Roblox script executor, a religious phrase, and OpenAI's agent. Only the two searches TikTok files under Science and Technology, "codex plugins" and "how to use codex", read clearly as the coding tool. "codex tips and tricks" (138,386 searches, no videos) could be either, which is exactly the kind of question to check with a follow-up call before you film anything.

Three errors, and what they mean

A tool that runs and comes back empty is a TikTok answer, not a connection fault. The troubleshooting guide walks the stages in order.

Remove it, or rotate the key

Run codex mcp remove tokconnect, or delete the table by hand. Then codex mcp list to confirm nothing is left, including any project-level copy. To switch it off for a while without losing the entry, set enabled = false.

Rotating a key takes one change, because bearer_token_env_var reads it from the environment: make a new key on the API key page, change the exported value, restart Codex. The config file never held the old key, so there is nothing to scrub.

Other clients, same server: Claude Code and Cursor. Choosing between servers? See the TikTok MCP servers compared.

How we got these numbers

Codex settings come from OpenAI's Codex MCP documentation and config reference, read on 5 October 2026. TokConnect tested its OAuth sign-in end to end on 28 September 2026 with a script acting as the client (test notes); the example results on this page come from the TokConnect server over MCP rather than from a Codex session. The tool list in the evidence file is a snapshot of version 3.1.0 read on 21 October 2026; the current server lists 34 tools. The autocomplete example was pulled with search_suggestions on 19 September 2026.

The "codex" search data was pulled on 5 October 2026 with one search_topics call (20 records). Search counts are TikTok's global 7-day "search popularity"; daily readings are the 7-day series TikTok returns with each record, 29 September to 5 October. We kept the 12 typed searches (the table lists all 12; the chart shows the top 10) and left out 8 topic groups TikTok generates (such as "Codex Gigas reading information"), whose figures pool many related searches. Categories are TikTok's, and our reading of what each search means is a judgement from its wording. Data: search snapshot, autocomplete snapshot, tool catalog.