Read and write local files with configurable access controls.
- Home
- Top MCPs for Claude Desktop
Top MCPs for Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop was the first widely-available MCP client and remains the reference implementation — every MCP server is built and tested against it first. This is the curated ranking of MCPs for Claude Desktop in 2026, sorted by composite score and filtered to servers verified to load via claude_desktop_config.json.
How MCP works in Claude Desktop
Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from claude_desktop_config.json — open it with Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Each entry needs a command and args; secrets belong in the env block, never in args. After editing, fully quit Claude (not just close the window) and reopen — the hammer icon in the chat bar should show the connected servers.
Top picks for Claude Desktop
The curated starting stack — install these first.
Persistent knowledge graph memory across AI conversations.
Structured step-by-step reasoning for complex problem solving.
Up-to-date library docs pulled directly into your AI context.
Full GitHub API access: repos, PRs, issues, and code search.
Full browser automation: navigate, click, screenshot, and scrape.
All 153 MCPs compatible with Claude Desktop
Ranked by composite score. Top picks above are the curated starting stack; everything below is sorted by popularity, maintenance, and provenance.
Current time and IANA timezone conversion — the first-party MCP that tells an agent what time it actually is.
Persistent memory layer for AI agents — auto-summarised, cross-session recall.
Retrieve web pages and convert them to clean markdown.
Local Git operations: commit, diff, log, branch, and more.
Run pre-built browser-automation Actors on managed infrastructure.
Official Microsoft browser automation across Chromium, Firefox, and WebKit.
Google-published MCP server for databases — one Go binary speaks Postgres, MySQL, BigQuery, Spanner, AlloyDB, Snowflake, ClickHouse, MongoDB, Redis, and more.
Query dashboards, Prometheus/Loki datasources, alerts, and incidents from an AI agent — official.
AI-optimized web search with cleaned, citation-ready results.
Scrape, crawl, extract structured data, and search the web from an AI agent.
Search, scrape, and unblock any public web page from an AI agent — official Web Unlocker MCP.
Run `fly mcp server` to expose flyctl operations to AI agents.
Neural web search and page fetch for AI agents — official remote MCP at mcp.exa.ai/mcp.
Look up Terraform Registry providers and modules, and manage HCP Terraform workspaces from an AI agent.
Reach the whole Cloudflare API from an agent — DNS records, Workers, R2, and the Registrar beta — through one hosted Code Mode server.
Query and inspect MongoDB collections from Claude, Cursor, and VS Code.
Manage Azure resources across 40+ services from an AI agent — Microsoft's official MCP.
Build and validate n8n workflows with an agent that knows all 2,000+ n8n nodes — most-installed n8n MCP.
Manage payments, customers, and subscriptions through Stripe.
Search, ask, research, and reason via the official Perplexity MCP.
Inspect keys, run commands, and debug Redis from an AI agent.
Vision-first browser automation built for AI agents.
Drive Azure DevOps repos, pull requests, work items, and pipelines from an AI agent — Microsoft official.
Read, write, and search across Notion pages, databases, and blocks.
Read channel messages, post replies, and trigger meetings from MS Teams.
Query GA4 reports, funnels, and realtime data from an AI agent.
Drive a live Blender session from an agent — create objects, set materials, run Python, render.
Ask natural-language questions across Microsoft 365 Copilot data.
Query ClickHouse and ClickHouse Cloud columnar warehouses from an AI agent.
Open-source workflow automation with a built-in MCP server — build, publish, and debug flows from an AI agent.
Manage Bitbucket Cloud repos, pipelines, and pull requests from an AI agent.
Read, write, and manage GCS buckets and objects from an AI agent — official Google MCP, local or remote.
Query Google Ads campaigns, metrics, and account performance with GAQL — Google's official MCP.
Full Supabase access: database, auth, storage, and edge functions.
Inspect Figma designs, components, and variables from an agent — the widely adopted community server.
Hosted, isolated Chromium runtime for AI agents that need a fresh browser per task.
AI-native browser automation: act, observe, and extract in plain English.
Send transactional and broadcast emails via the official Resend MCP.
Search indices, inspect mappings, and run queries against Elasticsearch from an AI agent.
AWS's own managed MCP server — run AWS APIs, execute sandboxed scripts, and search AWS documentation under IAM.
Official Mapbox MCP — geocoding, directions, isochrones, search, and tiles across the Mapbox API surface.
Official Salesforce MCP — SOQL queries, metadata deploy/retrieve, Apex tests, and org management from AI clients.
Scrape any URL, render JavaScript, and reach geo-restricted data — official Oxylabs Web Scraper MCP.
Full GitLab API access: repos, MRs, issues, pipelines, and registries.
Triage errors, inspect traces, and query events from Sentry.
Manage Jira, Confluence, and Compass via the official Atlassian Rovo MCP.
Live SERP, keyword, backlink, and on-page SEO data for an AI agent.
Inspect and manage Kubernetes clusters through kubectl-equivalent tools, with a non-destructive mode.
Local-first agent memory as plain Markdown — a semantic knowledge graph you and the agent can both read.
Provision Render services, read deploy logs and metrics, and query Postgres read-only — over a hosted OAuth MCP.
2,800+ apps and managed OAuth via Pipedream's hosted MCP at mcp.pipedream.com.
In-process analytical SQL over files and Parquet from an AI agent.
Manage subscriptions, transactions, products, prices, and financial reports on Paddle — official MCP.
Buy a domain, provision hosting, deploy a site, and set its DNS — one official server covering the whole chain, now through three search-and-execute tools.
Figma's own MCP server — read design context, generate code, and write back to the canvas.
Manage Droplets, App Platform, Kubernetes, and Spaces from an AI agent.
Process payments and manage orders, catalog, inventory, and bookings on Square — official MCP.
Score npm, PyPI, Go, and Maven dependencies for supply-chain and vulnerability risk before an agent installs them.
Production-grade Postgres MCP with index advice, EXPLAIN, and health checks.
Deploy a site, read the build, and manage projects, forms and extensions with Netlify's official MCP server.
Managed vector database for semantic search and retrieval in AI agents.
Open-source vector search with payload filtering, self-hostable or managed.
Manage Heroku apps, dynos, add-ons, and Postgres from an AI agent.
Manage Mailgun messaging, domains, webhooks, and analytics from an AI agent.
Send messages and read channel history from a Telegram bot in an agent.
Model, write and publish structured content from an agent — 73 tools across entries, assets and content types.
Real-time web search with privacy-focused results.
Run QuickBooks Online accounting from an agent — invoices, bills, payments, and financial reports.
Outlook mail and calendar, Teams, OneDrive and Excel through one Graph API server.
Turn Make.com on-demand scenarios into agent-callable tools — official MCP.
Run read-only MySQL queries and inspect schemas from an AI agent.
Official Plaid MCP — developer sandbox tooling and dashboard diagnostics, not a live bank-data connector.
Read and write notes in your local Obsidian vault.
Open-source agentic browser automation that handles login walls and CAPTCHAs.
Read dynamic and static secrets from HashiCorp Vault inside agent workflows.
Geocoding, place search, directions, and travel times from Google Maps.
Read, create, and manage events across Google Calendar — via Google's official remote MCP or a self-hosted community server.
AI-driven task management and decomposition for long-running agent projects.
Query webpages with structured natural language — selectors written for you.
Ad-free, high-quality web search and page-to-markdown extraction from an AI agent.
Inject secrets from Doppler into agent workflows without exposing values in chat.
Send transactional email from an AI agent — verified deliverability, audit-friendly.
Query and edit Sanity content over a remote OAuth MCP — no token in a config file.
Trigger Make scenarios and inspect runs from an AI agent.
Edit a live Webflow site from an agent — CMS collections, pages, and the Designer canvas over OAuth.
Open-source SAST scanning against custom rules from an AI agent.
Official Xero MCP — invoices, contacts, bank transactions, and accounting from an agent.
Read and create events in Apple Calendar via CalDAV from any MCP client.
Query Search Console clicks, impressions, and queries from an AI agent.
Backlinks, keyword research, and rank tracking from the official Ahrefs remote MCP.
Read and post to Discord channels — community management for AI agents.
Capture context and decisions across sessions — durable agent memory in markdown.
Register, transfer and manage Name.com domains and DNS from an agent — the official server, sandboxed by default.
Hosted Chromium with proxies and anti-bot evasion for AI agents.
Embedded and hosted vector database for AI agents — open source, zero-ops.
Read and send Slack messages, manage channels and threads — the token-based community server, no admin approval needed.
Self-hosted Slack alternative — read and post from an AI agent.
Deploy to your own server from an agent — the self-hosted answer to Vercel and Railway.
Send email and inspect deliverability via SendGrid from an AI agent.
Diagnose a domain before and after you change it — DNS, DNSSEC, SPF, DKIM, DMARC, TLS — with no API key.
Publish and manage a WordPress site from an agent over the REST API — posts, pages, media, plugins, themes.
Local SQLite database access with full read/write support.
Send SMS, WhatsApp, and voice calls from an AI agent via Twilio.
Anthropic's reference Postgres MCP — archived July 2025 and superseded by Postgres MCP Pro or the Supabase MCP.
Build on Shopify with an agent — searches the dev docs and validates generated GraphQL, components and Liquid themes.
Create invoices, capture orders, issue refunds, and track disputes on PayPal — official MCP.
Search and read Google Drive files from an AI agent (archived reference implementation).
Built-in MCP for Inngest functions, events, runs, and docs — zero auth, zero config.
Fire IFTTT applets via webhooks from an AI agent. Community MCP wrapper archived; IFTTT itself is unaffected.
Draft, schedule and publish to Ghost with a preview-then-approve gate on every write.
Official Cal.com hosted MCP — AI agents book, reschedule, and query availability across 34 tools via OAuth 2.1, no local install.
Turn a vague goal into a dependency-tracked task graph an agent can execute step by step.
Expose 8,000+ Zapier integrations as tools your AI agent can call.
Browse, search, and Q&A across Box content from an AI agent — official remote MCP.
Google's own hosted BigQuery MCP server — explore datasets and run SQL under IAM, with a read-only tool by default.
Inject 1Password secrets into an AI agent's tool calls without exposing them in chat.
Official Foursquare Places MCP — POI search, GeoTagging, and rich place metadata across 100M+ places.
Official Attio MCP — natural-language CRM control across records, lists, and notes via OAuth.
Create records, update deals, and run Zoho CRM actions from an AI agent — official Zoho MCP.
Manage leads, contacts, opportunities, and tasks in Close from an AI agent — official scoped MCP.
Pull keyword, backlink, traffic, and competitor data into an AI agent — official Semrush MCP.
Search conversations, contacts, companies, and help articles in Intercom from an AI agent — official MCP.
Search, inspect, and run Hugging Face models and datasets from an agent.
Run any open-source model on Replicate from inside an AI agent.
Route one prompt across 300+ LLMs with a single API key.
Scan code and dependencies for vulnerabilities from an AI coding assistant. Standalone MCP package archived; Snyk itself remains current via its IDE integrations.
Trigger and manage n8n workflows from an AI agent. Community MCP wrapper archived; n8n itself is unaffected.
Self-hosted Git server — manage repos, issues, and PRs from an AI agent.
Snowflake-managed MCP servers — Cortex Analyst, Cortex Search, and gated SQL, with RBAC and masking enforced by Snowflake.
Secure cloud sandboxes for executing AI-generated code — npm MCP package archived; vendor recommends the hosted E2B platform.
Official HubSpot MCP server — CRM contacts, deals, and meeting scheduling from Claude or Cursor.
Spin up Railway projects, services, and deploys via remote MCP with OAuth.
Send, read, search, and label Gmail from an AI agent — community MCP with auto-OAuth.
Cross-repo code search, navigation, and Deep Search via the official Sourcegraph MCP.
Enterprise iPaaS — trigger Workato recipes from an AI agent.
Official Fireflies remote MCP — query meeting transcripts, AI summaries, and action items via OAuth or API key.
Official Fathom remote MCP — access meeting recordings, transcripts, summaries, and webhooks from any MCP client.
Manage Linear issues, projects, and cycles from AI context.
Vector database with first-class hybrid (vector + keyword) and modular embeddings (MCP server archived — package no longer published).
Multi-model orchestration — let Claude consult Gemini, GPT, and o-series as sub-agents. Upstream community repository archived; no further maintenance.
At-cost registration and full DNS control from an agent — read-only until you explicitly turn writes on.
Read and edit a Namecheap portfolio from any MCP client — the non-ChatGPT path to the same account.
Anthropic-verified Fellow Connector — query meeting notes, transcripts, action items, and calendar events from Claude.
Self-hosted CMS content and schema editing from an agent — 20 tools including content-type creation.
Inspect schemas and run SQL against a Snowflake account from an AI agent.
Real-time and forecast weather data via the OpenWeatherMap API.
Official hosted MCP for booking-link scheduling — share availability without exposing the raw calendar.
FAQ: MCP in Claude Desktop
Which MCP should I install first in Claude Desktop?
Filesystem. It is the canonical starting point: it lets Claude read and write files in directories you allow, which unlocks the "use Claude with my codebase" workflow that most people want from MCP. Add Memory and Sequential Thinking next — they are zero-config and immediately useful across every conversation.
How do I add an MCP to Claude Desktop?
Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config. Add the server under mcpServers (each MCP detail page on this site has a copy-paste snippet pre-formatted for Claude Desktop). Save the file, then fully quit and reopen Claude — Reload Window is not enough.
Why are my MCP servers not showing up after I edit the config?
Three common causes. (1) You did not fully quit Claude — quit the app, do not just close the window. (2) The JSON is malformed — paste it into a linter; a single missing comma breaks the whole config. (3) The MCP failed to start — check Settings → Developer → "Open Logs" for the actual error from the server process.
Can Claude Desktop use remote (HTTPS) MCP servers?
Yes. Claude Desktop supports both stdio and remote-HTTP MCP transports. Stdio is the default for community MCPs; remote is how official integrations like Notion, Linear, and Sentry connect. Both kinds are configured in the same claude_desktop_config.json — just check each MCP's detail page for the right transport.
Is MCP support the same in Claude Desktop and Claude Code?
The protocol is identical, but the configuration paths differ. Claude Desktop reads claude_desktop_config.json (per-user, GUI-managed). Claude Code reads .mcp.json (per-project, CLI-managed) plus ~/.claude.json (per-user CLI). An MCP that works in one will work in the other; the only thing that changes is where you put the config.








