How to Set Up Notion MCP

Introduction

I’ve been using Notion for several years now - it’s where I store everything from deep‑dive research to HackTheBox write‑ups, and even notes for my books. It’s truly my second brain.

But I also love capturing quick ideas in VS Code (don’t judge 😅). That’s why I was thrilled by Notion MCP: it brings my real‑time coding notes from my long‑term Notion vault into one seamless workflow.

Setting Up Notion MCP with Your Workspace

Start by visiting the Notion integrations page and create a new integration.

You can give it any name, but make sure you select the correct Notion workspace where you want MCP to operate.

Copy the Secret Token

After creating the integration, you’ll get a secret token. Copy it - we’ll need it shortly to configure access from your IDE.

Grant Page-Level Access in Notion

💡

Notion MCP works only on the pages you explicitly give it access to.

From the same integrations page, go to the pages you want MCP to access and share them with your integration. This step is required - otherwise, the MCP server won’t be able to read or write anything.

Configure VS Code (or Your IDE)

Now jump into your IDE - I usually use VS Code. Open the command palette and search for “MCP” to edit your settings.json directly.

Add the MCP Configuration

Paste the following config snippet into your settings.json. Make sure to replace the token in OPENAPI_MCP_HEADERS with your secret from earlier:

"mcp": {
    "inputs": [],
    "servers": {
        "notionApi": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": ["-y", "@notionhq/notion-mcp-server"],
            "env": {
                "OPENAPI_MCP_HEADERS": "{\"Authorization\": \"Bearer ntn_****\", \"Notion-Version\": \"2022-06-28\" }"
            }
        }
    }
}

Start the Server

Once you’ve saved your settings, click the small “Start” button from the MCP interface. If everything’s working, your console should show something like:

2025-06-14 19:48:17.058 [info] Discovered 19 tools

🎉 That’s it - you’re connected.

Using MCP with Notion

You can now start using AI tooling or command palettes inside your IDE to interact directly with Notion. Any API action requires your approval - giving you full control over what gets written or updated in your workspace.

Quick. Simple. Clean.