Claude Desktop wiring

Claude Desktop reads a JSON config that tells it which MCP servers to spawn. Once you register your server, the tools appear in the Claude tool picker, and you can call them from any conversation. The same pattern works for Cursor.

claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "pr-review": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": ["run", "python", "mcp_server.py"],
      "cwd": "/absolute/path/to/mcp-pr-review-server",
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_TOKEN": "ghp_...",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Claude Desktop spawns this command with the given working directory and environment. Keep cwd absolute, because Claude Desktop does not run inside your shell and has no sense of relative paths.

Validation checklist: Claude Desktop wiring checklist

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AI prompt: Try it: call the tool from Claude

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Quiz: Quiz

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Checkpoint: MCP skeleton checkpoint

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