MCP & Connectors

How do you configure MCP servers in Claude Desktop?

Last verified: July 2026 · 2 min read
QUICK ANSWER

Open your local OS-specific configuration path and edit the JSON-formatted configuration file to define your stdio or remote MCP servers under the mcpServers parent key.

Configuration Locations

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Example Config Template

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "local-server-name": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/path/to/server.js"],
      "env": {
        "ENV_KEY": "value"
      }
    }
  }
}
Verified against: Claude Desktop v0.18.0

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