Connecting Claude Desktop to your MCP server

## Prerequisites You need Claude Desktop installed and an MCP server URL — for example one you deployed with [easyMCP](/). ## Where the config lives Claude Desktop reads its MCP configuration from a single JSON file: - **macOS**: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` - **Windows**: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json` If the file does not exist, create it. ## The JSON shape ```json { "mcpServers": { "weather-mcp": { "url": "https://easymcp.eu/api/public/mcp/prj_x9k..." } } } ``` The key (`weather-mcp` here) is just a label — Claude shows it in the UI. The `url` is the MCP endpoint you got from easyMCP after deploying. ## Restart Claude Fully quit Claude Desktop and reopen it. You should see your tools listed in the tools panel. If they do not appear, check the developer logs from the **Help → Show logs** menu. ## Common gotchas - **Stale cache** — Claude caches tool schemas; restart fully after editing the config - **Mixed clients** — Cursor and Claude use the same protocol but separate config files - **Auth headers** — for private servers, easyMCP issues per-client tokens; never hand out the project URL alone ## Read next - [Connecting Cursor to your MCP server](/blog/connect-cursor) - [Authentication patterns for MCP servers](/blog/mcp-auth-patterns)