---
title: "Connect MCP clients"
description: "Wire your generated MCP server, or the hosted endpoint, into Claude Code, Cursor, and Claude Desktop."
url: https://typeship.dev/docs/guides/mcp-clients
markdown: https://typeship.dev/docs/guides/mcp-clients.md
section: "Get started"
---
> ## Documentation index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at https://typeship.dev/llms.txt (every page, one line each) or the full text at https://typeship.dev/llms-full.txt.
> Append .md to any docs URL, or send Accept: text/markdown, for the markdown twin of that page.

# Connect MCP clients

Wire your generated MCP server, or the hosted endpoint, into Claude Code, Cursor, and Claude Desktop.

Your API's MCP server reaches agents two ways: as a local process the client spawns (the server inside your package, over stdio) or as a remote URL (the [hosted endpoint](https://typeship.dev/docs/platforms/mcp#hosted-endpoint), or a server you deployed with `--http` or on Cloudflare). This guide shows both for each client. Replace `acme` with your package's bin.

## Fastest: let the CLI do it

The generated CLI writes the client configuration for you and never puts a token in the file. Run it from the directory of the project that should see the server:

```bash
acme login                  # once; the MCP server shares these credentials
acme mcp --claude           # ./.mcp.json
acme mcp --cursor           # ./.cursor/mcp.json
acme mcp --claude-desktop   # Claude Desktop's config file
```

For the hosted endpoint, add `--url`:

```bash
acme mcp --url https://typeship.dev/mcp/<slug> --claude
```

Add `--read-only` to either form for a server that cannot write: the local entry gets the `--read-only` flag, the hosted URL gets `/readonly`. See [Read-only and narrower servers](https://typeship.dev/docs/platforms/mcp#read-only-and-narrower-servers).

Claude Desktop takes remote servers as connectors in the app (Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector), not through its config file, so `--claude-desktop --url` prints that instruction instead of writing an entry.

Clients must speak MCP `2026-07-28` (per-request `_meta`, `server/discover`); Claude Code and Claude Desktop do. Cursor's MCP client is still on the `initialize` handshake as of Cursor 3.2 and does not connect; see the [protocol notes](https://typeship.dev/docs/platforms/mcp#protocol-notes).

Build the package first (`npm install && npm run build`) so `dist/mcp.js` exists. Existing servers in the file are preserved.

## Manual configuration

**Claude Code**

Local server, in `.mcp.json` at the project root:

```json title=".mcp.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acme": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/abs/path/acme/dist/mcp.js"]
    }
  }
}
```

Remote server:

```json title=".mcp.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acme": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://typeship.dev/mcp/<slug>"
    }
  }
}
```

Run `claude mcp list` to confirm the server is connected.

**Cursor**

Create `.cursor/mcp.json` in the project root:

```json title=".cursor/mcp.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acme": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/abs/path/acme/dist/mcp.js"]
    },
    "acme-hosted": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://typeship.dev/mcp/<slug>"
    }
  }
}
```

**Claude Desktop**

Add a local server to `claude_desktop_config.json` and restart Claude Desktop. macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`. Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`.

```json title="claude_desktop_config.json"
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "acme": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/abs/path/acme/dist/mcp.js"],
      "env": {
        "ACME_TOKEN": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}
```

The `env` block is optional when the user has run `acme login`. For a remote URL, add the hosted endpoint as a custom connector in Claude Desktop's settings.

## Credentials

A local server resolves credentials like the CLI: environment variables (`ACME_TOKEN`), then whatever `acme login` saved. A remote server forwards each caller's `Authorization` header to your API. When your spec declares OAuth2, clients that support it discover the authorization server through the standard challenge. See [OAuth discovery](https://typeship.dev/docs/platforms/mcp#oauth-discovery).

## Check it works

Ask the agent to list the tools, or call one directly:

```text
Use the acme server to list my accounts.
```

Every server also answers `search_docs` and `read_docs`, so "how does pagination work in the Acme API?" is answerable in the session when a docs site is configured.

## Sitemap

[Every page of these docs](https://typeship.dev/llms.txt)