MCP servers for Claude Desktop

Where Claude Desktop keeps MCP servers

macOS

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

Windows

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Open it

Settings, Developer, Edit Config

Remote servers

Settings, Connectors, add a custom connector

How to add an MCP server to Claude Desktop

1. Open the server's listing here and copy its Claude Desktop snippet.
2. In Claude Desktop open Settings, then Developer, then Edit Config. Paste the entry under mcpServers and save.
3. Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. The server's tools appear in the tools menu of a new chat. For a remote server, add its URL under Settings, Connectors instead of editing the file.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/path/to/folder"
      ]
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "example": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

• 
  Browser Use

  Browser agents and stealth cloud browsers for AI: run web tasks, fill forms, extract data.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  REA

  Reverse engineer anything from your terminal or agent with one CLI and MCP server.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Context7

  Up-to-date docs for AI agents
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Playwright

  Playwright Tools for MCP
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Scrapling MCP Server

  Web scraping with stealth HTTP, real browsers, and Cloudflare bypass. CSS selectors supported.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Chrome DevTools MCP

  MCP server for Chrome DevTools
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  B
• 
  Repomix

  Pack local or remote codebases into AI-friendly files that LLMs and coding agents can read or search
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  SeleniumBase MCP

  Stealthy browser automation, testing, and web-scraping via CDP Mode.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  e2e

  Open live web and mobile app sessions from an e2e project to inspect the app and try locators.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Supabase

  MCP server for interacting with the Supabase platform
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Next AI Draw.io

  draw.io diagrams your AI agent draws on a live browser canvas that you can also edit by hand
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Firecrawl MCP Server

  Firecrawl, the context API for AI agents: search, scrape, interact with the web, plus paper search.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A
• 
  Claude Flow

  AI orchestration with hive-mind swarms, neural networks, and 87 MCP tools for enterprise dev.

  More from ruvnet →
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  B
• 
  Figma Context

  Give your coding agent access to your Figma data. Implement designs in any framework in one-shot.
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  B
• 
  agent-device

  Let AI agents inspect, control, and debug real iOS, Android, desktop, and TV apps
  not reviewed
  Widely used
  A

Before you connect one

• Local servers run with your user's permissions. A filesystem server pointed at your home folder can read everything in it; point it at one folder.
• Claude asks before using a tool. Approving once per chat is safer than always allowing a tool that writes.
• Check the server's safety report first: which tools write, whether a remote endpoint needs auth, and what a package runs when it installs. What the scan checks.

Questions people ask

Where is the Claude Desktop MCP config file?

On macOS at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json, on Windows at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. Settings, Developer, Edit Config opens it.

How do I add a remote MCP server to Claude Desktop?

Add its URL under Settings, Connectors as a custom connector, or use the mcp-remote bridge in the config file.

My server does not appear in Claude Desktop. What now?

Fully quit and reopen the app after editing the config, check the JSON is valid, and check the command (npx, uvx or docker) runs in your terminal.