Setting Up Your First MCP Server

Setting up an MCP server takes less than five minutes. The most common starting point is the filesystem server, which gives your AI model read and write access to a directory on your local machine. In Claude Code, you configure servers in the MCP settings. In Claude Desktop, you edit the claude_desktop_config.json file. Either way, you are telling the client: start this process, speak MCP to it, and make its tools available to the model.

The configuration is minimal. You specify the command to start the server process and any arguments it needs. For the filesystem server, that means the path to the directory you want to expose. For a GitHub server, that means your authentication token. For a database server, that means the connection string. The MCP client handles the rest — starting the process, negotiating capabilities, discovering tools, and presenting them to the model.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/Users/you/projects"
      ]
    }
  }
}

1. 1. Choose a Server Browse mcp.so or the official MCP servers repository. Start with filesystem, GitHub, or a database server depending on your workflow. Pick something you will actually use — the best way to learn MCP is by doing.
2. 2. Install Dependencies Most MCP servers are distributed as npm packages, Python packages, or standalone binaries. The npx command handles npm packages automatically — it downloads and runs them in one step. Python servers use uvx or pip.
3. 3. Add Configuration Edit your client's MCP configuration file. For Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows). For Claude Code: use the /mcp command or edit .claude/settings.json.
4. 4. Restart and Verify Restart the AI application. Check that the server's tools appear in the tool list. Try invoking a tool to verify end-to-end connectivity. If it fails, check the MCP logs for error messages.