MCP Servers

Manage Model Context Protocol servers — the integrations that give Claude access to external tools, resources, and prompts.

Overview

The MCP Servers page has two tabs:

• My Servers — view and manage all configured MCP servers
• Registry — browse and install servers from the MCP Registry

How to Use

Viewing Servers

The My Servers tab shows all configured servers as cards displaying:

• Server name and connection status (connected, failed, needs-auth, not-tested)
• Transport type (stdio command or HTTP/SSE URL)
• Scope badge (user, project, plugin, or managed)
• Tool, resource, and prompt counts (from cached test results)
• Enable/disable toggle

Adding a Server

Click "Add Server" to open the wizard:

1. Enter a server name
2. Choose the transport type:
   • stdio — command-based servers (e.g., node, npx, python)
   • http — HTTP POST JSON-RPC servers (supports OAuth tokens)
   • sse — Server-Sent Events servers
3. Configure connection details (command + args for stdio, URL for http/sse)
4. Optionally set environment variables and headers
5. Choose the scope (user or project)

Testing Servers

Click the test button on a server card or use "Test All" to verify connectivity. Testing:

• Verifies the command or URL is reachable
• Communicates via the MCP JSON-RPC protocol
• Discovers available tools, resources, and prompts
• Caches results for display on the card and detail view

INFO

Tests have a 30-second timeout. npx-based servers may need extra startup time.

Server Detail View

Click a server card to see full details:

• Complete configuration (command, arguments, environment variables)
• Cached connection test results
• Lists of discovered tools, resources, and prompts (up to 200 items)
• Server version and capabilities
• Approval settings override

Server Approval Settings

Expand the Approval Settings panel to configure how Claude handles tool approvals:

Mode	Behavior
Ask every time	Prompt before each tool use (default)
Always allow	Auto-approve all tool calls
Always deny	Block all tool calls

Per-server overrides let you set different policies for individual servers.

Browsing the Registry

Switch to the Registry tab to discover pre-built MCP servers. You can browse by category, search by name, and install servers directly into your configuration.

Configuration

MCP servers are stored in two locations:

File	Scope	Description
~/.claude.json	User	Global MCP servers
.mcp.json	Project	Project-specific servers

Plugin-provided and managed (enterprise) servers are read-only and shown with distinct badges.

Tips

• Use project-scoped servers for tools specific to a codebase (e.g., database access).
• Use user-scoped servers for tools you want everywhere (e.g., web search).
• Test servers after adding them to verify connectivity and discover available tools.
• Managed servers (enterprise) appear with an amber badge and cannot be modified.
• Environment variables in server configs are masked in the UI for security.