Add MCP servers to Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop reads local servers from claude_desktop_config.json; remote servers are added as custom connectors in the app.

macOS

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Top-level key

mcpServers

Format

json

OAuth for remote servers

●Yes

Example config

This example adds GitHub's hosted server and Playwright as a local server, in the shape this client expects.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@playwright/mcp@latest"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Notes and quirks

• Quit and reopen the app after editing the file.
• Logs are in ~/Library/Logs/Claude on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\logs on Windows.
• On Windows, run npx through cmd: command cmd, with /c, npx and the package as arguments. The generator does this for you.
• There is no official Linux build.

Build a Claude Desktop config →

Other clients