MCP Servers for Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop reads its servers from ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Of the 31 603 we track, 10 915 answer right now without any credentials, 3 379 sign you in through the browser and 1 329 want an API key you paste into the config. The blocks below are ready to paste — each is built from the address we actually reached, in the format this client expects.

What 31 603 servers look like from Claude Desktop

Work as is answering now, no credentials asked 10 915 34.5%

Browser sign-in you authorise once, the client keeps the session 3 379 10.7%

Need a key you paste a key from the vendor into the config 1 329 4.2%

Run locally installed from a package, nothing to reach over the network 10 286 32.5%

Not responding listed as active, answer nothing 5 699 18.0%

Availability, last 24 hours share of the 21 317 remote servers answering, hour by hour

24 hours agonow

10 915

work with no key

answering now and open to anonymous clients

3 379

you authorise once, the client keeps the session

1 329

need an API key

you paste a key from the vendor into the config

10 286

run on your machine

installed from npm or PyPI, no uptime to measure

5 699

listed but dead

skip these — the registry still calls them active

How to add a server to Claude Desktop

one file for the whole app

Open the config file

It sits inside the application support folder, which Finder hides by default.

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

Paste the server block

Same JSON shape as Cursor and VS Code use — those blocks are interchangeable.

Restart the app

Not just the conversation, the whole application: the config is read once at launch.

What it looks like

a real server, not a placeholder

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Playwright MCP →

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

Servers to start with

all 31 603 in the catalogue →

Playwright MCP

by microsoft

Playwright Tools for MCP

5 247 752 installs/wk local only

Firebase MCP

by firebase

Gives AI development tools Firebase-specific capabilities and expertise.

2 171 835 installs/wk local only

Context7

by upstash

Up-to-date code docs for any prompt

536 148 installs/wk 2 tools answering

Browser Use

by browser-use

Control a real Chrome browser to complete any task: fill forms, extract data, book flights.

1 689 793 installs/wk local only

Storybook MCP Addon

by storybookjs

Help agents automatically write and test stories for your UI components.

1 463 451 installs/wk local only

Chrome DevTools MCP

by chromedevtools

MCP server for Chrome DevTools

1 000 705 installs/wk local only

Snyk

by snyk

Easily find and fix security issues in your applications leveraging Snyk platform capabilities.

501 714 installs/wk local only

Terradev

by theoddden

Cross-cloud GPU orchestration CLI.

4 391 installs/wk 245 tools answering

AWS MCP Server

by aws

AWS MCP Server lets AI securely access AWS using docs, API calls, and SOP workflows.

278 552 installs/wk local only

Hermoso

by hermoso-ai

Marketing on autopilot from your agent. 847 tools, usable alone. Publishing and ads cost no credits.

3 174 installs/wk 180 tools answering

Telnyx

by team-telnyx

Official TypeScript library for the Telnyx API

219 358 installs/wk local only

EdgarTools

by dgunning

Open-source SEC EDGAR toolkit — 11 tools, 7 prompts, every filing type. No API key required.

194 202 installs/wk local only

Browse all 31 603 servers the list is the same for every client — only the config differs

Things that trip people up with Claude Desktop

Written from how Claude Desktop reads its config, not from its release notes.

Available in every conversation

There is no per-project scope here. A server added once is loaded for everything you do in the app, which is convenient and worth being deliberate about.

Restart actually means restart

Closing the window is not enough on macOS — the process keeps running and the file is not re-read. Quit properly, then reopen.

Where is the file if it does not exist yet?

It is created the first time settings are saved, and the folder it lives in is hidden by default. Creating it by hand at the same path works just as well.

Can blocks from Cursor or VS Code be reused?

Yes — the JSON shape is identical across all three. Only the file path and the scope of the settings differ.

Why does a server work for one person and not another?

Local servers run with the permissions and environment of whoever launched them. A missing key in the environment or a path that exists on one machine and not another produces a server that looks broken but is not.

How many of the servers out there actually work?

Of the 19 757 published in the official registry, 7 875 answer a real handshake. The rest are either local — with nothing to reach over the network — or listed as active while responding to nothing.

Same servers, other clients

the servers are the same — the config format is not

Windsurf

Editor with the agent built in. Takes stdio, streamable HTTP and SSE, and can carry an OAuth login for each of the three.

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

Cline

Autonomous agent living inside VS Code. Handles local processes and remote endpoints over streamable HTTP or SSE, but authorisation is on you — through headers or environment variables.

~/.cline/mcp.json

Gemini CLI

Google's command-line agent. Takes all three transports and carries a full OAuth flow for remote servers, including service-account impersonation.

~/.gemini/settings.json

JetBrains AI Assistant

Built into the JetBrains IDEs. Configured through the settings dialog rather than a file, and it can import a config you already wrote for another client.

Settings | Tools | AI Assistant | Model Context Protocol

OpenCode

Open-source terminal agent. Local and remote servers sit in the same mcp object, told apart by a type field, and tokens are kept outside the config.

opencode.json in the project, or ~/.config/opencode/opencode.json

Claude Code

Adds servers by command, so nothing to edit by hand. Handles both local processes and remote endpoints, including OAuth logins.

run in your terminal

Cursor

Config sits in the project folder, so servers can differ per repository — useful when one project needs database access and another must not have it.

.cursor/mcp.json

VS Code

Works through GitHub Copilot's agent mode. Like Cursor, the config is per workspace rather than global.

.vscode/mcp.json

Codex

The only client here that uses TOML rather than JSON, so a config copied from elsewhere will not work as is.

~/.codex/config.toml