Connect Codex CLI
Codex CLI reads its MCP servers from ~/.codex/config.toml and picks the token up from an environment variable rather than the file itself, so the token never sits in your config.
A token can read your SEO data and change it — edit meta tags, create redirects, start optimization runs. Treat it like a password: anyone holding it can do the same.
Set it up
Create an access token
On the MCP page, in the Access tokens card, click Create token, name it something like Codex CLI on my laptop, and copy the token. It is shown only once — see Access tokens for the full walkthrough.
Put the token in your shell
Scroll to Setup guide, select the Codex CLI tab and copy the line under Codex reads the token from your shell:
export AVADA_SEO_MCP_TOKEN="YOUR_TOKEN"Replace YOUR_TOKEN with the token you created and run it. Add the same line to ~/.zshrc or ~/.bashrc so it survives a new terminal.
Add the server
Copy the block under Then add to ~/.codex/config.toml and paste it into that file — create the file if it isn't there. It already has your server URL filled in:
[mcp_servers.avada-seo]
url = "https://…/mcp/s/your-store.myshopify.com"
bearer_token_env_var = "AVADA_SEO_MCP_TOKEN"Check it worked
Start Codex CLI in a terminal where AVADA_SEO_MCP_TOKEN is set, and ask "which of my products are missing a meta description?"
Codex only sees the token if the variable is set in the shell you start it from. If you added the export line to your shell profile, open a new terminal before trying again.
Replace the token
Update AVADA_SEO_MCP_TOKEN with the new token — in your shell profile too, if you put it there — and open a new terminal.
Disconnect
Remove the [mcp_servers.avada-seo] block from ~/.codex/config.toml and drop the export line from your shell profile. Also revoke the token on the MCP page, otherwise it stays usable anywhere else you pasted it.
Trouble connecting? See Troubleshooting.