Bring Freight Forwarding
to Claude Desktop
Learn how to connect Flexport to Claude Desktop and start using 12 AI agent tools in minutes. Fully managed, enterprise secure, and ready to use without writing a single line of code.
GDPR Free for Subscribers
What is the Flexport MCP Server?
Connect your Flexport account to any AI agent and automate your global trade and freight operations through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). Flexport is the modern freight forwarder that provides full visibility and control over your supply chain. Now, you can track shipments, manage purchase orders, and retrieve essential logistics documentation directly through natural conversation.
What you can do
- Shipment Tracking — List all your ocean and air shipments, fetch detailed tracking metadata, and monitor transit statuses in real-time.
- PO Management — Automate your purchase order lifecycle by listing, retrieving, and creating POs directly from the agent.
- Document Retrieval — List and fetch essential logistics documents such as Bills of Lading, Commercial Invoices, and Packing Lists.
- Billing & Invoices — Access freight and commercial invoices associated with your account or specific shipments for better financial oversight.
- Customs Documentation — Retrieve commercial invoice data required for customs clearance and compliance reporting.
- Global Visibility — Get a high-level overview of your entire global supply chain operations without switching tabs.
How it works
1. Subscribe to this server through the Vinkius Marketplace
2. Enter your Flexport API Key (found in your Flexport Developer Portal)
3. Start managing your global freight operations from Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client
Who is this for?
- Logistics Managers — quickly check shipment statuses and cargo ready dates while coordinating with carriers.
- Supply Chain Analysts — get a real-time overview of purchase orders and invoices through simple AI commands.
- Finance Operations — automate the retrieval of freight billing data and documents for audit and reconciliation.
Built-in capabilities (12)
Create a new purchase order
Get document download link
Get document metadata
Get invoice details
Get purchase order details
Get shipment details
List commercial invoices
List logistics documents
List freight invoices
List purchase orders
List invoices for shipment
List freight shipments
Why Claude Desktop?
Claude Desktop is the definitive way to connect Flexport to your AI workflow. Add Vinkius Edge URL to your config, restart the app, and Claude immediately exposes all 12 tools in the chat interface. ask a question, Claude calls the right tool, and you see the answer. Zero code, zero context switching.
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Claude Desktop is the reference MCP client. it was designed alongside the protocol itself, ensuring the most complete and stable MCP implementation available
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Zero-code configuration: add a server URL to a JSON file and Claude instantly discovers and exposes all available tools in the chat interface
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Claude's extended thinking capability lets it reason through multi-step tool usage, chaining multiple API calls to answer complex questions
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Enterprise-grade security with local config storage. your tokens never leave your machine, and connections go directly to Vinkius Edge network
Flexport in Claude Desktop
Flexport and 3,400+ other MCP servers. One platform. One governance layer.
Teams that connect Flexport to Claude Desktop through Vinkius don't need to source, host, or maintain individual MCP servers. Every tool call runs inside a hardened runtime with credential isolation, DLP, and a signed audit chain.
Raw MCP | Vinkius | |
|---|---|---|
| Server catalog | Find and host yourself | 3,400+ managed |
| Infrastructure | Self-hosted | Sandboxed V8 isolates |
| Credential handling | Plaintext in config | Vault + runtime injection |
| Data loss prevention | None | Configurable DLP policies |
| Kill switch | None | Global instant shutdown |
| Financial circuit breakers | None | Per-server limits + alerts |
| Audit trail | None | Ed25519 signed logs |
| SIEM log streaming | None | Splunk, Datadog, Webhook |
| Honeytokens | None | Canary alerts on leak |
| Custom domains | Not applicable | DNS challenge verified |
| GDPR compliance | Manual effort | Automated purge + export |
Why teams choose Vinkius for Flexport in Claude Desktop
The Flexport MCP Server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS — a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts. All 12 tools execute in hardened sandboxes optimized for native MCP execution.
Your AI agents in Claude Desktop only access the data you authorize, with DLP that blocks sensitive information from ever reaching the model, kill switch for instant shutdown, and up to 60% token savings. Enterprise-grade infrastructure, zero maintenance.
* Every MCP server runs on Vinkius-managed infrastructure inside AWS - a purpose-built runtime with per-request V8 isolates, Ed25519 signed audit chains, and sub-40ms cold starts optimized for native MCP execution. See our infrastructure
How Vinkius secures
Flexport for Claude Desktop
Every tool call from Claude Desktop to the Flexport MCP Server is protected by DLP redaction, cryptographic audit chains, V8 sandbox isolation, kill switch, and financial circuit breakers.
Frequently asked questions
How do I track a specific shipment using its ID?
You can use the 'get_shipment' tool and provide the Flexport Shipment ID. The agent will return the most recent status, location, and estimated arrival dates for that shipment.
Can I retrieve commercial invoices for customs purposes?
Yes! The 'list_commercial_invoices' and 'list_documents' tools allow you to access the necessary paperwork for customs clearance. You can even use 'download_document' to get a temporary link to the actual file.
Is it possible to filter invoices by shipment?
Absolutely. Use the 'list_shipment_invoices' tool and provide the Shipment ID. The agent will retrieve all freight billing documents associated with that specific cargo movement.
How does Claude Desktop discover MCP tools?
When Claude Desktop starts, it reads the claude_desktop_config.json file and connects to each configured MCP server. It calls the tools/list endpoint to fetch the schema for every available tool, then surfaces them as clickable options in the chat interface via the 🔌 icon.
What happens if the MCP server is temporarily unavailable?
Claude Desktop handles disconnections gracefully. if the server is unreachable at startup, the tools simply won't appear. Once the server becomes available again, restarting Claude Desktop will re-establish the connection. There is no timeout penalty or error loop.
Can I connect multiple MCP servers simultaneously?
Yes. You can add as many servers as you need in the mcpServers section of the config file. Each server appears as a separate tool provider, and Claude can use tools from multiple servers in a single conversation turn.
Is there a limit on the number of tools per server?
Claude Desktop can handle hundreds of tools per server. However, for optimal LLM performance, Vinkius servers are designed to expose focused, well-documented tool sets rather than overwhelming the model with too many options.
Does Claude Desktop support Streamable HTTP transport?
Yes. Claude Desktop supports both SSE (Server-Sent Events) and the newer Streamable HTTP transport that Vinkius uses. Simply provide the server URL. Claude auto-negotiates the transport protocol.
Server not appearing after restart
Ensure the JSON is valid (no trailing commas). Check the file path: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\\Claude\\ (Windows).
Authentication error
Verify your Vinkius token is correct. Go to cloud.vinkius.com to regenerate it if needed.
Tools not showing in chat
Click the 🔌 icon at the bottom of the chat input. If it shows 0 tools, the server may still be connecting. wait a few seconds.