Connect Quid+ to Gemini Enterprise
This page lets the Google Cloud administrator of a subscribing organisation connect News Tank Quid+ to Gemini Enterprise in four steps, with no action needed from News Tank.
Once the connector is added, every user of your Gemini Enterprise app can query the News Tank articles of their subscription, with sourced answers. The connector is read-only: it changes nothing at News Tank or in your Google Cloud project.
Prerequisites
- Role: Discovery Engine Editor (roles/discoveryengine.editor) on the Google Cloud project of your Gemini Enterprise app.
- Organisation policies: lift the constraint that blocks creating a “Custom MCP Server” data store; allow the quid.newstank.fr domain (server, authorization and token URLs) in the allowedEgressFqdns constraint; if project enforcement is on or the project is protected by VPC Service Controls, also add custom_mcp to allowedDataSources. Details in the “Before you begin” section of the Google documentation (links at the bottom of the page).
- News Tank side: an active subscription, and a News Tank account for each user (their work email address). You create the client credentials yourself in step 1.
Values to enter
All values below are fixed, except the client ID and secret, which belong to your organisation and are created in step 1.
| Field (console label) | Value |
|---|---|
| MCP Server URL | https://quid.newstank.fr/mcp/academic
|
| Authorization URL | https://quid.newstank.fr/oauth/authorize
|
| Authorization URL Parameters | leave empty |
| Token URL | https://quid.newstank.fr/oauth/token
|
| Client ID | created in step 1 |
| Client Secret | created in step 1, keep it like a password |
| Scopes | mcp.read offline_access
|
| Enable PKCE Support | enabled (S256) — required by News Tank |
| Use HTTP Basic Authentication | leave selected (default setting) |
The redirect URI to declare is already included in the step 1 command: https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/oauth-redirect
Step 1 — Create your News Tank credentials
This step produces the client ID (ntkc_…) and the client secret, to be entered in step 2. Before running the command, replace “Your organisation” with your organisation's name: your users will see it on the News Tank authorisation screen. Apostrophes and accents are fine; avoid quotation marks (straight or curly) and the $ and ` (backtick) characters.
From a macOS or Linux terminal, or Google Cloud Shell:
curl -s -X POST https://quid.newstank.fr/oauth/register -H 'Content-Type: application/json' --data-binary @- <<'EOF'
{"client_name":"Gemini Enterprise (Your organisation)","redirect_uris":["https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/oauth-redirect"],"token_endpoint_auth_method":"client_secret_basic"}
EOF
From Windows PowerShell:
$body = @{ client_name = "Gemini Enterprise (Your organisation)"; redirect_uris = @("https://vertexaisearch.cloud.google.com/oauth-redirect"); token_endpoint_auth_method = "client_secret_basic" } | ConvertTo-Json
Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Uri https://quid.newstank.fr/oauth/register -ContentType "application/json; charset=utf-8" -Body ([Text.Encoding]::UTF8.GetBytes($body))
The response contains client_id and client_secret. Copy them straight away: the secret is shown only once. Keep it like a password.
These credentials grant no access on their own: each user then signs in with their own News Tank account. Lost the secret? Run this step again and replace the client ID in step 2.
Step 2 — Add the MCP server
1. In the Google Cloud console, open the Gemini Enterprise page, then Apps, and select your app.
2. Open Connected Data Stores, then New data store. Search for Custom MCP Server and click Add MCP server.
3. Under Authentication settings, choose OAuth 2.0 and fill in the values from the table.
4. Click Verify Auth. If the News Tank sign-in page opens, sign in with an active News Tank account. Then click Continue.
5. Advanced options (optional): you can add a server description there. Click Continue again.
6. In Configure your data connector, pick the location from the Multi-region list (global, us or eu) and enter News Tank Quid+ in Your data connector name.
7. Click Create: the data store appears in Connected Data Stores.
8. Open it and wait for its state to change from Creating to Active: it is then ready to use.
Step 3 — Enable the actions
By default, Google disables every action of an added MCP server.
1. In the new data store, open Actions, then Reload custom actions.
2. Select all the News Tank Quid+ actions, then click Enable actions.
News Tank Quid+ actions are all read-only: Gemini does not ask users to confirm before calling them.
Step 4 — Each user signs in
Each user signs in once to their News Tank account.
1. On first use in Gemini Enterprise, the News Tank sign-in page opens: the user signs in as on the website (their email, then the code received or their password).
2. On the authorisation screen, they tick the box “I accept the News Tank terms of use” if it is displayed, then click “Authorize access”.
3. To check: ask a news question about their sector. The answer should cite News Tank articles.
Access can be revoked at any time from the user's News Tank account.
Business edition
On Gemini Enterprise Business edition, the team administrator adds the server without the Google Cloud console. Google describes this feature as a preview.
1. On business.gemini.google, open Settings & help, select your team, then Manage team → Connected apps → Add MCP Server.
2. In MCP info, enter the server address (MCP Server URL from the table) and the name News Tank Quid+, then click Next.
3. Choose OAuth 2.0 and fill in the same values as in the table, then click Verify Auth and Continue.
4. In Configure your data connector, pick the location (Multi-region), name the connector News Tank Quid+ and click Add.
5. Turn the connection on for the team: it is off by default.
Each user then signs in as in step 4.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Check |
|---|---|
| “Custom MCP Server” missing or creation refused | Organisation policy constraint lifted; Discovery Engine Editor role on the right project. |
| “Verify Auth” fails | Client ID and secret copied without spaces; PKCE box ticked; quid.newstank.fr allowed outbound if your organisation restricts traffic. |
| Gemini answers without citing News Tank | Actions enabled (step 3); new conversation; question that falls within a media of your subscription. |
| News Tank sign-in fails for a user | User holds a News Tank account on an active subscription. |
For any other issue, contact us.