mcp

Configure and manage MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for Claude Code.

The claude mcp command group lets you add, remove, list, and inspect MCP servers, as well as run Claude Code itself as an MCP server.

claude mcp <subcommand> [options]

Subcommands

mcp add

Add an MCP server to Claude Code.

claude mcp add [options] <name> <command-or-url> [args...]

name · string · required

Unique name to identify this MCP server.

command-or-url · string · required

For stdio transport: the executable command to run.
For sse or http transport: the server URL.

-s, --scope <scope> · string

Configuration scope. Choices: local (default), user, project.

-t, --transport <transport> · string

Transport type. Choices: stdio (default), sse, http.

-e, --env <env...> · string[]

Set environment variables for the server process (e.g. -e KEY=value). Only applies to stdio transport.

-H, --header <header...> · string[]

Set HTTP/WebSocket headers (e.g. -H "Authorization: Bearer abc"). Only applies to sse and http transports.

--client-id <clientId> · string

OAuth client ID for http or sse servers.

--client-secret · boolean

Prompt for an OAuth client secret (or set the MCP_CLIENT_SECRET environment variable instead).

--callback-port <port> · string

Fixed port for the OAuth callback. Use this for servers that require pre-registered redirect URIs.

stdio server

claude mcp add my-server -- npx my-mcp-server --some-flag

claude mcp add -e API_KEY=xxx my-server -- npx my-mcp-server

claude mcp add --transport http sentry https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http corridor https://app.corridor.dev/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer <token>"

claude mcp add --transport sse my-sse-server https://example.com/events

mcp remove

Remove an MCP server from the configuration.

claude mcp remove [options] <name>

name · string · required

Name of the server to remove.

-s, --scope <scope> · string

Configuration scope to remove from (local, user, or project). If not specified, the server is removed from whichever scope it exists in.

mcp list

List all configured MCP servers.

claude mcp list

The workspace trust dialog is skipped and stdio servers from .mcp.json are spawned for health checks. Only use this command in directories you trust.

mcp get

Get details about a specific MCP server.

claude mcp get <name>

name · string · required

Name of the server to inspect.

The workspace trust dialog is skipped and stdio servers from .mcp.json are spawned for health checks. Only use this command in directories you trust.

mcp serve

Start Claude Code itself as an MCP server. This lets other tools connect to Claude Code over the MCP protocol.

claude mcp serve [options]

-d, --debug · boolean

Enable debug mode.

--verbose · boolean

Override the verbose mode setting from config.

mcp add-json

Add an MCP server by providing the configuration as a raw JSON string.

claude mcp add-json [options] <name> <json>

-s, --scope <scope> · string

Configuration scope: local (default), user, or project.

mcp add-from-claude-desktop

Import MCP servers from a Claude Desktop installation (macOS and WSL only).

claude mcp add-from-claude-desktop [options]

-s, --scope <scope> · string

Configuration scope: local (default), user, or project.

mcp reset-project-choices

Reset all approved and rejected project-scoped (.mcp.json) servers within the current project.

claude mcp reset-project-choices

Configuration scopes

Scope	File location	When to use
local	.claude/settings.local.json	Personal, not committed to git
user	~/.claude/settings.json	Available across all projects
project	.claude/settings.json	Shared with the team via git

You can also supply MCP servers at startup without modifying config files using the --mcp-config flag:

claude --mcp-config ./my-servers.json
claude --mcp-config '{"myServer": {"type": "stdio", "command": "npx", "args": ["my-mcp"]}}'

The /mcp slash command

Inside an interactive session, run /mcp to open the MCP settings panel where you can view server status, enable/disable servers, and reconnect.

/mcp
/mcp enable my-server
/mcp disable my-server
/mcp reconnect my-server