Connect to local MCP servers changeddocs/draft/develop/connect-local-servers
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6666* **macOS**: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
6767* **Windows**: `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
68* **Linux**: `~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
6869
6970**3. Configure the Filesystem Server**
7071
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156157
157158If you encounter issues setting up or using the Filesystem Server, these solutions address common problems:
158159
159> **Server not showing up in Claude / hammer icon missing**
160> [accordion] Server not showing up in Claude / hammer icon missing
160161>
161162> 1. Restart Claude Desktop completely
162163> 2. Check your `claude_desktop_config.json` file syntax
163164> 3. Make sure the file paths included in `claude_desktop_config.json` are valid and that they are absolute and not relative
164> 4. Look at [logs](#getting-logs-from-claude-for-desktop) to see why the server is not connecting
165> 4. Look at [logs](#getting-logs-from-claude-desktop) to see why the server is not connecting
165166> 5. In your command line, try manually running the server (replacing `username` as you did in `claude_desktop_config.json`) to see if you get any errors:
166167>
167168> ```bash macOS/Linux theme={null}
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172173> npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem C:\Users\username\Desktop C:\Users\username\Downloads
173174> ```
174175
175> **Getting logs from Claude Desktop**
176> [accordion] Getting logs from Claude Desktop
176177>
177178> Claude.app logging related to MCP is written to log files in:
178179>
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180181>
181182> * Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude\logs`
182183>
184> * Linux: `~/.config/Claude/logs`
185>
183186> * `mcp.log` will contain general logging about MCP connections and connection failures.
184187>
185188> * Files named `mcp-server-SERVERNAME.log` will contain the stderr output from the named server. Stdio servers may use stderr for all their logging, so these files are not limited to errors.
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186189>
187190> You can run the following command to list recent logs and follow along with any new ones (on Windows, it will only show recent logs):
188191>
189> ```bash macOS/Linux theme={null}
192> ```bash macOS theme={null}
190193> tail -n 20 -f ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log
191194> ```
192195>
196> ```bash Linux theme={null}
197> tail -n 20 -f ~/.config/Claude/logs/mcp*.log
198> ```
199>
193200> ```powershell Windows theme={null}
194201> type "%APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log"
195202> ```
196203
197> **Tool calls failing silently**
204> [accordion] Tool calls failing silently
198205>
199206> If Claude attempts to use the tools but they fail:
200207>
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202209> 2. Verify your server builds and runs without errors
203210> 3. Try restarting Claude Desktop
204211
205> **None of this is working. What do I do?**
212> [accordion] None of this is working. What do I do?
206213>
207214> Please refer to our [debugging guide](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/tools/debugging.md) for better debugging tools and more detailed guidance.
208215
209> **ENOENT error and `$\{APPDATA\}` in paths on Windows**
216> [accordion] ENOENT error and `$\{APPDATA\}` in paths on Windows
210217>
211218> If your configured server fails to load, and you see within its logs an error referring to `${APPDATA}` within a path, you may need to add the expanded value of `%APPDATA%` to your `env` key in `claude_desktop_config.json`:
212219>
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239246
240247Now that you've successfully connected Claude Desktop to a local MCP server, explore these options to expand your setup:
241248
242> **[Explore other servers](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers)**
249> [card] [Explore other servers](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers)
243250>
244251> Browse our collection of official and community-created MCP servers for
245252> additional capabilities
246253
247> **[Build your own server](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/develop/build-server.md)**
254> [card] [Build your own server](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/develop/build-server.md)
248255>
249256> Create custom MCP servers tailored to your specific workflows and
250257> integrations
251258
252> **[Connect to remote servers](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/develop/connect-remote-servers.md)**
259> [card] [Connect to remote servers](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/develop/connect-remote-servers.md)
253260>
254261> Learn how to connect Claude to remote MCP servers for cloud-based tools and
255262> services
256263
257> **[Understand the protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/learn/architecture.md)**
264> [card] [Understand the protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/draft/learn/architecture.md)
258265>
259266> Dive deeper into how MCP works and its architecture
260267
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