Claude Code MCP server enables Claude to connect to and manage additional capability servers at runtime. This server package acts as the host for MCP servers used by Claude Code, allowing you to expose tools such as filesystem access, GitHub integration, browser automation, database access, API fetching, search, messaging integrations, and more. You register individual MCP servers with Claude Code (for example filesystem, github, puppeteer, postgres, fetch, brave-search, slack, time, memory, thinking) and Claude can spin them up as needed via your configured command. When configured, Claude can issue tool calls through these MCP servers to perform actions like reading and writing local files, querying or updating remote services, automating browser tasks, or running small compute tasks, all within the scope you’ve defined (user, project, or local). The included quick-start examples demonstrate adding commonly used servers via npx commands and configuring environment variables as needed.

To use, install Claude Code globally, then add MCP servers using the claude mcp add commands or edit your .claude.json/.mcp.json project files. Once registered, Claude Code will manage starting and stopping the MCP servers automatically as your prompts require tool-assisted actions. The repository provides example configurations and a recommended set of servers to consider, along with troubleshooting tips for common integration issues.

Prerequisites:

• Node.js 18 or newer installed on your system
• NPM (comes with Node.js) or corepack enabled

Installation steps:

1. Install Claude Code globally: npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

2. Verify installation: claude-code --version

   or ensure the claude code CLI is available via the claude helper

3. Add MCP servers (examples): claude mcp add filesystem -s user -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ~/Documents ~/Projects claude mcp add github -s user -e GITHUB_TOKEN=your-token -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github

4. If you prefer, edit your configuration file directly (e.g., ~/.claude.json or project .mcp.json) to define servers and environment variables, then restart Claude Code to apply changes.

5. Restart Claude Code to pick up new MCP server configurations.

Prerequisites for specific servers may include API keys or tokens; ensure you provide required env vars when configuring each server.

Tips and common considerations:

• Environment variables: Use the env section in your MCP configuration to store sensitive keys (e.g., GITHUB_TOKEN, API keys). Do not commit these to version control.
• Scopes: Choose Local, User, or Project scope when adding MCP servers to control accessibility (personal vs team-shared vs project-scoped tools).
• Protocol/version: If you encounter protocol version errors, ensure you’re using a compatible Claude Code version with the MCP server package and consider wrappers or updating to the latest release.
• Windows path handling: When specifying file paths for MCP servers, prefer forward slashes (C:/path/to/dir) or double backslashes (C:\path\to\dir).
• Debugging: Enable debug mode with claude --mcp-debug, check /mcp in Claude Code for status, and tail log files under your OS-specific log locations for detailed troubleshooting.
• If you encounter server not found errors, verify that the server is registered with Claude Code, that you’re in the correct directory for local scope, and that you have restarted Claude Code after configuration changes.