How to Install MCP Servers in Claude Desktop
How to install and configure MCP servers in Claude Desktop on macOS and Windows — the config file location, the exact JSON shape, and how to verify your tools loaded.
Browse Claude Desktop servers directoryStep-by-step installation guide
Open the config file
In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens (or creates) claude_desktop_config.json in your text editor. You can also open the file directly at the path for your OS.
Add the server under mcpServers
Add an entry inside the "mcpServers" object with a name, a "command", and its "args". Put any secrets in the "env" object rather than inline in the args.
Save and fully restart Claude Desktop
Quit Claude Desktop completely (not just the window) and reopen it. MCP servers are only launched on startup, so config edits are ignored until a full restart.
Verify the tools loaded
Open a new chat and look for the tools/MCP indicator. If the server shows zero tools or an error, check the MCP log at ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs (Windows).
Configuration
claude_desktop_config.jsonLocation
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonSnippet
{
"mcpServers": {
"filesystem": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/path/to/allowed/dir"],
"env": {}
}
}
}Popular MCP servers to try in Claude Desktop
View all compatible servers- The official MCP server for AllMCPs.com - submit and manage tools directly from your AI. The open directory for MCP servers. Connect Claude, Cursor, Windsurf, and AI agents to databases, tools, files, and APIs. Explore 10,000+ servers. AllMCPs is the premier, open directory for discovering, evaluating, and installing Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to equip AI agents and LLMs with real-world superpowers.65 20
- Define, ship & query your analytics tracking from one source of truth, trusted by humans and agents.65 0
- MCP Server for Integrating LINE Official Account46 0
- Tools to read, search, and manipulate Git repositories.43 0
- Scan/purge hidden text & score web domains: TLS, DNS, headers, speed. Free scans, $0.01 actions. The Tools:
- text_scan_v1 — free Scans a text string for invisible Unicode characters, homoglyphs, and normalization issues. Returns a risk score, a list of flagged characters, and detected homoglyphs. Never modifies the input text.
- text_purge_v1 — $0.01 per call Removes invisible Unicode characters and replaces homoglyphs in a text string, then normalizes the result. Returns the cleaned text plus a before-and-after risk comparison.
- domain_check_score_v1 — free Overall score, per-category scores, and how many findings each category raised. Use it to triage: rank a list of domains, confirm one is healthy, or decide whether the full report is worth pulling. It tells you which categories are weak and how many issues they hold, but not what the issues are.
- domain_check_score_batch_v1 — free The same triage scores for up to 100 domains in a single call. One score summary per distinct domain: overall score, per-category scores, and how many findings each category raised. Never the findings themselves.
- domain_check_v1 — $0.01 per call Full report for one domain: weighted score out of 100, per-category breakdown, and every individual finding with a prioritised remediation order.
-
domain_check_batch_v1 — from $0.005 per domain
The same full report for up to 100 domains in a single call, with one payment for the whole batch instead of one per domain. Both cheaper per domain and much faster than calling
domain_check_v1in a loop.
42 0 - Influxdb3 MCP ServerInfluxDataOfficial MCP server for InfluxDB 3 Core/Enterprise/Cloud Dedicated42 0
- Hub MCPdockerOfficial MCP server to interact with Docker Hub, providing access to repositories, hub search and Docker Hardened Images42 0
- Official Vocuno plugin for Claude that connects to Vocuno's remote MCP server for AI song generation, covers, remixes, stem separation, voice conversion, audio editing, mixing, mastering, and music analysis.41 0
- MCP & Agent Skills for Automated Documentation, and codebase conventions + context38 25
- S2 Sdk Typescripts2-streamstoreOfficial MCP server for the S2.dev serverless stream platform.38 0
- Infobip MCPInfobipOfficial Infobip MCP server for integrating Infobip global cloud communication platform. It equips AI agents with communication superpowers, allowing them to send and receive SMS and RCS messages, interact with WhatsApp and Viber, automate communication workflows, and manage customer data, all in a production-ready environment.34 0
- Turn product pages and creative briefs into finished video and image ads from your AI chat.28 12
Frequently Asked Questions
On macOS it is ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json; on Windows it is %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. The fastest way to open it is Settings → Developer → Edit Config, which creates the file if it does not exist.
The server process usually started but crashed before responding to the tools/list request — commonly a missing environment variable, a bad command path, or non-JSON output on stdout. Open the per-server log at ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log to see the actual error.
Yes. Claude Desktop only launches MCP servers at startup, so you must fully quit and reopen the app — closing the window is not enough.