Claude Code MCP Setup: Connect MCP Servers to Claude Code

What it is

Anthropic's agentic coding tool that runs in your terminal and reads, edits, and runs code across a whole repository.

How MCP works in Claude Code

Claude Code is a first-party MCP client. It can add servers over stdio, SSE, and Streamable HTTP, at user, project, or local scope, and exposes their tools directly to the agent.

You can also add a server without editing JSON by running, for example, claude mcp add playwright -- npx @playwright/mcp@latest.

Config file location

~/.claude.json holds user-scope servers, and a project-root .mcp.json file holds shared servers under an mcpServers object; the claude mcp add command writes either for you.

Add your first server

A good first server is Playwright MCP — Microsoft's browser automation server. It runs locally over stdio via npx, needs no API key, and gives the agent a real browser to drive. Here is the verified Claude Code config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@playwright/mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Restart or reload Claude Code after saving, then confirm the server's tools show up. Swap in any other server from the directory using the same structure.

Transports & platforms

FAQ