🚀 connect-mcp

Connect any MCP server to Claude Desktop, Claude CoWork/Code, Codex or VS Code in seconds — no config editing, no guesswork.

⚡ The Problem

Integrating an MCP server usually means:

• Finding config file manually
• Editing JSON
• Debugging errors blindly
• Restarting the app repeatedly

One mistake → everything breaks ❌

✅ The Solution

npx connect-mcp

👉 Answer two questions → Done. Your MCP server is connected.

🚀 Quick Start

Claude Desktop

npx connect-mcp --url http://localhost:8000/mcp claude

Restart Claude Desktop → Your tools are live ✅

VS Code (GitHub Copilot / Agent mode)

npx connect-mcp --url http://localhost:8000/mcp vscode

Reload VS Code → Open GitHub Copilot Chat → Agent mode → 🔌 icon → Server is live ✅

Codex Plugin

npx connect-mcp --url http://localhost:8000/mcp codex

Creates the Codex plugin and registers it in the local Codex marketplace.

🔌 Supported Platforms

| Platform | Status | |----------------------------|--------| | Claude Desktop | ✅ | | Claude CoWork / Code | ✅ | | Codex Plugin | ✅ NEW | | VS Code (GitHub Copilot) | ✅ NEW | | VS Code Insiders | ✅ NEW | | Cursor | 🚧 Coming soon |

🔌 3 Ways to Connect MCP

1️⃣ CLI (Recommended)

Claude Desktop:

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL> claude

VS Code:

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL> vscode

VS Code Insiders:

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL> --insiders vscode

Claude CoWork / Code:

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL> cowork

Codex Plugin:

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL> codex

2️⃣ Direct URL (Auto Claude Mode)

npx connect-mcp --url <MCP_URL>

👉 Automatically connects to Claude Desktop.

3️⃣ Interactive Mode

npx connect-mcp

👉 Prompts you for:

• MCP server URL
• Platform (Claude Desktop / CoWork / Codex / VS Code / VS Code Insiders)

⚠️ IMPORTANT (Very Critical)

✅ Always use: /mcp

❌ Never use: /mcp/sse

👉 /sse is an internal endpoint — will FAIL

🧠 How VS Code MCP Config Works

VS Code reads MCP servers from:

| OS | Path | |---------|----------------------------------------------| | Windows | %APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json | | macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json | | Linux | ~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json |

VS Code Insiders: Replace Code with Code - Insiders in the paths above.

The connect-mcp vscode command writes this config automatically:

{
  "servers": {
    "localhost": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

After connecting:

1. Reload VS Code: Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window
2. Open GitHub Copilot Chat (Ctrl+Alt+I)
3. Switch to Agent mode → Click the 🔌 plugin icon
4. Your MCP tools will appear there ✅

🧠 How Claude Desktop MCP Config Works

Claude expects config like:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "localhost": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "http://localhost:8000/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

| OS | Path | |---------|---------------------------------------------------------------------| | Windows | %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json | | macOS | ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json |

⚙️ Requirements

• Node.js >= 16
• For Claude Desktop: Claude Desktop installed
• For VS Code: VS Code with GitHub Copilot extension and chat.mcp.enabled set to true

🧪 Example Usage

# Connect a local dev server to VS Code
npx connect-mcp --url http://localhost:8000/mcp vscode

# Connect a production server to Claude Desktop
npx connect-mcp --url https://your-domain.com/mcp claude

# Interactive — let it guide you
npx connect-mcp

🔥 Supported Transport

| Type | Supported | |---------------|--------------| | HTTP (SSE) | ✅ | | Local Command | ❌ (coming soon) |

❓ FAQ

Do I need to restart VS Code after connecting? Yes — run Ctrl+Shift+P → Developer: Reload Window, or close and reopen VS Code.

Do I need to restart Claude Desktop? Yes — required.

Will this overwrite my config? No — it only adds/updates the specific server entry. All other existing entries are preserved.

Does this support ngrok? ⚠️ Not reliable (SSE issues). Use instead:

• localhost (best for local dev)
• Cloudflare Tunnel (recommended for production)

Can I use my own MCP server? Yes — that's the main use case.

What VS Code version supports MCP? VS Code 1.99+ with GitHub Copilot extension.

🚀 Roadmap

• [x] Claude Desktop support
• [x] Claude CoWork / Code support
• [x] VS Code (GitHub Copilot) support
• [ ] Cursor support
• [ ] MCP validation (ping server before writing config)
• [ ] Tool discovery preview
• [ ] Cloud deployment helpers

🤝 Contributing

PRs welcome.

📜 License

MIT © theprathameshpund