Codex

Install the Alation plugin in Codex and work with your catalog in natural language.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+ on the machine running the agent.
• An OAuth client registered on your Alation instance (a one-time, per-instance step).

Install

From the Codex Plugins page, click the + and choose Add marketplace.

Fill in the marketplace:

Field	Value
Source	https://github.com/Alation/alation-plugins
Git ref	main
Sparse paths	plugins/codex

Open the Alation Plugins tab and click Add plugin on the Alation entry.

The plugin installs with all its skills and registers an Alation MCP bridge automatically.

Install from the command line instead

codex plugin marketplace add https://github.com/Alation/alation-plugins.git
codex plugin add alation@alation-plugins

Authenticate

Ask Codex to set up the Alation plugin — this runs the setup skill. It prompts for your instance base URL and the Client ID from the OAuth client, then uses a paste-the-redirect-URL login: open the authorization URL it gives you, log in, and paste the final redirect URL back into the chat.

The MCP bridge shares this login

The Alation MCP bridge reuses the same credentials and OAuth token from setup and connects to <base-url>/ai/mcp — no separate MCP login. If you finish setup after a thread has started, open a new thread so Codex relaunches the bridge with the new token.

You only register the OAuth client once per instance.

Next

See the skills and what to ask to start working with your catalog.