MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers extend Claude with tools — file access, web search, calendar, Tana, Life Archive, and more. Config lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.
These run as local processes spawned by Claude Desktop via stdio transport.
| Server | Package / Command | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Life Archive | Streamable HTTP — http://192.168.8.180:8901/mcp |
RAG search, entity lookup, knowledge graph across 278K personal documents |
| Tana Local | npx tana-local |
Read/write Tana nodes, search, import Tana Paste |
| Desktop Commander | npx @wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander |
File system access, terminal, process management on Mac |
| mcp-obsidian | Local vault bridge | Read/write Obsidian notes |
| Exa | exa-mcp |
Semantic web search and code context retrieval |
| sequential-thinking | npm package | Dynamic multi-step reasoning tool |
| voicemode | Local | Voice conversation and service management |
| PDF Tools | Local | Fill, analyze, extract, view PDFs |
| Read and Send iMessages | Local | iMessage access via contacts |
| life-archive | MCP via HTTP | Exposed as Claude.ai connected server |
These are connected via the Claude.ai interface and available in web/desktop sessions.
| Server | URL | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| S&P Global | https://kfinance.kensho.com/integrations/mcp |
Financial data and market intelligence |
| Sentry | https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp |
Error tracking |
| Gmail | https://gmail.mcp.claude.com/mcp |
Email reading, searching, draft creation |
| Mermaid Chart | https://mcp.mermaidchart.com/mcp |
Diagram creation and validation |
| Melon | https://mcp.melon.com/mcp |
Task/productivity |
| BioRender | https://mcp.services.biorender.com/mcp |
Scientific figure and illustration generation |
| Hugging Face | https://huggingface.co/mcp |
ML models and datasets |
| Google Calendar | https://gcal.mcp.claude.com/mcp |
Calendar events, scheduling |
| Tool | Type | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Claude in Chrome | Browser agent | Interact with web pages, forms, tabs |
| Claude Code | CLI | Agentic coding in terminal |
| Cowork | Desktop app | File and task automation for non-developers |
Location: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Template structure:
{
"mcpServers": {
"life-archive": {
"url": "http://192.168.8.180:8901/mcp"
},
"desktop-commander": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@wonderwhy-er/desktop-commander"]
},
"tana-local": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "tana-local"],
"env": {
"TANA_API_TOKEN": "YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"
}
}
}
}
After editing, restart Claude Desktop to reload servers.
Tana Local MCP server requires OAuth origin to be set to http://127.0.0.1 (not localhost) in Tana settings → API & Integrations → MCP.
If Tana tools return auth errors, check:
- OAuth origin is
http://127.0.0.1(notlocalhost— they’re treated as different origins) - API token in config matches the one in Tana settings
- Restart Claude Desktop after config changes
Known issue: search_nodes has a persistent JSON serialization bug. Workaround: use get_children to navigate nodes instead.
The Life Archive MCP server runs on the Mac Studio and is accessible from any network via Pangolin VPN:
| Context | URL |
|---|---|
| Local (Mac Studio) | http://localhost:8901/mcp |
| LAN | http://192.168.8.180:8901/mcp |
| Remote (Pangolin VPN) | http://100.96.128.20:8901/mcp |
Add to any MCP client config (Claude Code, Cowork, custom) pointing at the appropriate URL.
Server not appearing in Claude:
- Check JSON syntax in config file (no trailing commas, valid quotes)
- Restart Claude Desktop completely (Quit from menu bar, relaunch)
- Check Claude Desktop logs:
~/Library/Logs/Claude/
Life Archive MCP not responding:
launchctl list | grep beedifferent
curl http://localhost:8901/mcp
Tana connection refused:
- Verify
tana-localnpm package is installed:npm list -g tana-local - Check API token is correct in config
- OAuth origin must be
http://127.0.0.1in Tana settings