Where is the Claude Desktop MCP config file located?

On Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. On macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. On Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.

Does Claude Desktop support MCP tools and stdio transports?

Claude Desktop supports stdio transports and supports autonomous tool calling.

Claude Desktop Cursor Windsurf (Cascade)Cline / Roo Code OpenAI Codex CLI Antigravity Zed Editor LangChain / LangGraph

How to Setup MCP in Claude Desktop

Official Reference Host

Step-by-step setup guide for connecting Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to Claude Desktop by Anthropic.

Configuration File: claude_desktop_config.json

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Example claude_desktop_config.json Template

Open in Config Generator

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": { "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..." }
    }
  }
}

Installation Steps

Locate claude_desktop_config.json

Find the configuration file at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

Add MCP server entries

Open the file and add your server definitions inside the configuration schema.

Set environment variables

Provide any required API keys, database URLs, or access tokens in the environment section.

Save and reload

Save claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop.

Verify in chat

Ask Claude Desktop to list tools or execute a task with the connected MCP server.

Claude Desktop Protocol Support

Stdio Transport Supported

Native local process execution via command + args

SSE / HTTP Transport Supported

Remote SSE streaming connections

Tool Calling Supported

Autonomous tool invocation with confirmation UI

Resources API Supported

Exposes static & dynamic URI resources

Prompts API Supported

Direct prompt template selection in chat

Roots Boundary Supported

Notifies servers of workspace folder boundaries

Dynamic Hot-Reload Unsupported

Requires full client restart to reload servers