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Installation

How Do I Install An MCP Server In Claude Code?

Current Claude Code MCP setup, config locations, CLI shortcuts, and common verification steps.

Short answer

Claude Code officially supports MCP in both project and user scopes. You can add servers through the Claude CLI or by editing the JSON config files that Anthropic documents for Claude Code.

The minimum working config is still the familiar command plus args block inside mcpServers.

Recommended path

  1. 01

    Choose the scope

    Use a project configuration when the server is tied to one repository, and a user configuration when you want it everywhere.

  2. 02

    Add the server

    Either run the Claude CLI helper or add an mcpServers entry to the relevant Claude configuration file.

  3. 03

    Restart or reopen the Claude Code session

    Then inspect the available tools to confirm that the server started and tool discovery succeeded.

Where the configuration lives

Anthropic’s current docs call out three useful locations: ~/.claude.json for user-level configuration, .claude/settings.json for project-shared configuration, and .claude/settings.local.json for local project overrides.

Minimal working example 

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "aescut": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@aeptus/aescut", "--skip-install"]
    }
  }
}

Anthropic also documents CLI helpers such as claude mcp add .... Those are convenient for users who do not want to hand-edit JSON, but the saved configuration still resolves to the same shape.

How to verify and what usually breaks

  • If the tool list is empty, the server probably failed to start. Check whether the command exists on the machine and whether the package can resolve.
  • If you use Node version managers, make sure the path Claude Code can see actually includes npx.
  • Project-level installs are easier to reason about because they travel with the repository instead of silently following one user across every workspace.

Sources and further reading

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