# Configure a connector with a marking

Source: https://www.testifysec.com/docs/badger/how-to/configure-connector/

Build a Badger connector, give it its service, credential and classification marking, and check what it exposes.

The Jira, Confluence and GitLab connectors and `--classification` are on `main`. A managed Badger session cannot load a connector yet; this guide runs one as a standalone MCP server, the way its tests do.

 

## Build

 

Each connector is a static binary in the `testifysec/connectors` Go module, which has no third-party dependencies:

 

```sh
cd testifysec/connectors
mkdir -p bin
CGO_ENABLED=0 go build -o bin/jira ./jira    # likewise -o bin/confluence ./confluence, -o bin/gitlab ./gitlab
go test ./...
```

 

## Settings

 

Every connector takes the same core settings, as a flag or an environment variable. A flag wins over the variable.

 

| Flag | Variable | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `--base-url` | `BADGER_CONNECTOR_BASE_URL` | The one service the connector may reach. HTTPS only. |
| `--token-file` | `BADGER_CONNECTOR_TOKEN_FILE` | File holding the developer's short-lived token. Required. Read on every request, so it may appear after start. |
| `--ca-file` | `BADGER_CONNECTOR_CA_FILE` | Enclave CA roots for the service's certificate. |
| `--enable-writes` | `BADGER_CONNECTOR_ENABLE_WRITES=1` | Register the write tools. Off by default. |
| `--classification` | `BADGER_CONNECTOR_CLASSIFICATION` | The connector's one marking. Required; the connector exits with status 2 if it is missing or does not parse. |

 

The GitLab connector also takes `--auth` (`BADGER_CONNECTOR_GITLAB_AUTH`): `private-token` (the default) or `bearer`.

 

## Choose the marking

 

Set `--classification` to the highest marking the service is accredited to hold, in banner form:

 

```sh
./bin/jira --base-url https://jira.example.invalid/rest/api/2 \
  --token-file /run/badger/jira.token \
  --ca-file /etc/badger/enclave-ca.pem \
  --classification "SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY"
```

 

Every result the connector returns carries that marking. A connector has one classification; nothing in an issue, page, label or file changes it. If parts of a service hold data at different levels, set the marking to the highest of them. See [classification markings](https://www.testifysec.com/docs/badger/concepts/classification).

 

## Check what it exposes

 

The connector speaks MCP on standard input and output. List its tools by sending `initialize` and `tools/list`:

 

```sh
printf '%s\n' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"initialize","params":{}}' \
  '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":2,"method":"tools/list"}' \
| ./bin/jira --base-url https://jira.example.invalid/rest/api/2 --token-file /dev/null \
    --classification "SECRET//REL TO USA, FVEY"
```

 

Without `--enable-writes` no write tool appears in the list, and calling one by name returns "unknown tool". Add the flag only for a service where the agent should write, and expect each write to go through the session's permission prompt once admission through the profile exists.

 

## Credential

 

The connector sends the token from `--token-file` as the developer, as a bearer token or, for GitLab, a private token. Use a personal access token with the narrowest scope the service allows. In the design the session broker writes this file per user; there is no shared service account.

Reference generated from the product documentation. Match commands and support details to your installed release.