Panel

Panel is a standalone remote MCP server that lets Claude call ChatGPT, DeepSeek, Kimi, and Gemini inside one persistent, shared discussion. It exposes exactly one tool:

ask_model(provider, message, conversation_id?)

Architecture

• Streamable HTTP MCP endpoint: POST /mcp

• Health endpoint: GET /health

• Static bearer authentication on every MCP request

• PostgreSQL source-of-truth transcript with one ordered log per conversation_id

• One OpenAI-compatible adapter configured three ways, plus a native Gemini adapter

• Request-time context compaction only; stored turns are never edited or deleted

The selected provider sees its own earlier turns as assistant/model. Claude and every other provider are rendered as user with [Speaker]: prefixes.

Related MCP server: Multi-CLI MCP

Local setup

Requirements: Node.js 22+, a reachable PostgreSQL database, and API keys for the four providers.

1. Copy .env.example to .env and fill values locally. Never commit .env.

2. Run npm ci.

3. Run npm run db:migrate (the server also initializes the idempotent schema at startup).

4. Run npm run dev.

5. In another terminal, run npm run manual.

Useful checks:

npm run build
npm run lint
npm test
npm run test:integration
npm run verify:persistence

The integration and persistence commands require DATABASE_URL. The manual test requires the running server, all provider keys, and PANEL_BEARER_TOKEN. Set PANEL_URL when testing a deployed instance.

Environment

Required server variables:

• DATABASE_URL

• PANEL_BEARER_TOKEN (use at least 32 random bytes)

• OPENAI_API_KEY

• DEEPSEEK_API_KEY

• MOONSHOT_API_KEY

• GOOGLE_API_KEY

Optional variables and defaults:

• MAX_CONTEXT_CHARS=60000

• PORT=3000

• OPENAI_BASE_URL=https://api.openai.com/v1

• OPENAI_MODEL=gpt-4o-mini

• DEEPSEEK_BASE_URL=https://api.deepseek.com

• DEEPSEEK_MODEL=deepseek-v4-flash

• MOONSHOT_BASE_URL=https://api.moonshot.ai/v1

• MOONSHOT_MODEL=kimi-k2.5

• GEMINI_MODEL=gemini-2.5-flash

Deploy

Render

Push this repository to GitHub, create a Blueprint from render.yaml, and enter every sync: false secret in Render's dashboard. Point DATABASE_URL at external Neon or Supabase Postgres. The service URL will be https://<service>.onrender.com/mcp.

Railway

Push to GitHub, create a Railway project from the repository, and add the same variables. railway.json uses the included Dockerfile. Generate a public HTTPS domain and append /mcp.

Connect to claude.ai

Current Claude connector documentation lists fixed request-header authentication (static_headers) as a beta option for custom connectors. Add the deployed /mcp URL under Customize → Connectors → Add custom connector (Team/Enterprise owners add it under organization connector settings). In advanced/request-header settings add:

Authorization: Bearer <the exact PANEL_BEARER_TOKEN value>

Then connect/enable Panel in the target Claude conversation. Do not put the token in the URL.

If the request-header field is not exposed for your account, do not make this server public without auth. That account/UI has not enabled the beta static-header path; OAuth would then be a separate, explicitly required follow-up.

Verification harness behavior

npm run manual invokes all four providers through MCP using one conversation_id. Its DeepSeek, Kimi, and Gemini prompts explicitly require reactions to earlier named providers, making shared transcript behavior visible. npm run verify:persistence writes through one PostgreSQL pool, closes it, creates a fresh pool, and reads the sentinel back. The compaction unit test confirms the request rendering is compacted while the original full turn array remains unchanged; the PostgreSQL transcript is only read during rendering.