Claude Code MCP: How to Add Servers, Best MCP Servers, and Complete Setup Guide

Claude Code is Anthropic's AI-powered CLI for software development. It connects to external tools through MCP servers — giving it access to your databases, GitHub repos, error trackers, and more. This guide covers everything: how to add servers, the 3 scopes, all transport types, and the best servers to install.

Install Claude Code

curl -fsSL https://claude.ai/install.sh | sh

Adding MCP Servers: 3 Transport Types

1. Remote HTTP Server (Recommended for cloud services)

# Syntax
claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>

# Examples
claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcp
claude mcp add --transport http sentry https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp
claude mcp add --transport http github https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/

# With authentication header
claude mcp add --transport http secure-api https://api.example.com/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer your-token"

After adding, run /mcp inside Claude Code to authenticate with OAuth if the server requires it.

2. Remote SSE Server (Legacy, prefer HTTP)

# SSE transport is deprecated — use HTTP where available
claude mcp add --transport sse asana https://mcp.asana.com/sse

3. Local stdio Server (For local processes)

# Syntax: options first, then server name, then -- command
claude mcp add --transport stdio <name> -- <command> [args...]

# Examples
claude mcp add filesystem -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ~/Documents
claude mcp add --transport stdio --env GITHUB_TOKEN=ghp_xxx github -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github
claude mcp add --transport stdio db -- npx -y @bytebase/dbhub --dsn "postgresql://user:pass@localhost:5432/mydb"

MCP Installation Scopes

When to use which scope

• Local — Personal servers, experiments, sensitive credentials for one project
• Project — Team-shared tools. The .mcp.json file gets committed to git, so everyone gets the same MCP setup
• User — Personal utilities you use across all projects (filesystem, memory, etc.)

# Add for this project only (default)
claude mcp add --transport http stripe https://mcp.stripe.com

# Share with team (creates .mcp.json)
claude mcp add --transport http paypal --scope project https://mcp.paypal.com/mcp

# Available in all your projects
claude mcp add filesystem --scope user -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ~/Documents

Project .mcp.json example

When you use --scope project, Claude Code creates/updates a .mcp.json file at your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "github": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/"
    },
    "sentry": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp"
    },
    "db": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@bytebase/dbhub", "--dsn", "postgresql://..."],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

It supports environment variable expansion: ${API_KEY}, ${VAR:-default}. Keep secrets in env vars, not in the file.

Managing Servers

# List all configured servers
claude mcp list

# Get details for a specific server
claude mcp get github

# Remove a server
claude mcp remove github

# Inside Claude Code: check server status
/mcp

# Import servers from Claude Desktop
claude mcp add-from-claude-desktop

Best MCP Servers for Claude Code (2026)

Essential Starter Kit

claude mcp add --transport http github https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/

claude mcp add --transport http sentry https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp

claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcp

claude mcp add filesystem --scope user -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem ~/Documents

Full Server Recommendations

Practical Workflow Examples

Debug a production error

# Add Sentry + GitHub
claude mcp add --transport http sentry https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp
claude mcp add --transport http github https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/

# In Claude Code:
> "What are the top errors in the last 24 hours?"
> "Show me the stack trace for error abc123 and find the relevant PR"
> "Fix the bug and create a PR"

Query your database

# Add a Postgres server
claude mcp add --transport stdio db -- npx -y @bytebase/dbhub \
  --dsn "postgresql://readonly:pass@localhost:5432/analytics"

# In Claude Code:
> "What's our total revenue this month?"
> "Show me users who signed up in the last 7 days"
> "Find the top 10 products by order count"

Team project setup

# Share servers with the team via .mcp.json
claude mcp add --transport http github --scope project https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/
claude mcp add --transport http sentry --scope project https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp

# Commit .mcp.json so everyone gets the same setup
git add .mcp.json && git commit -m "Add shared MCP server config"

Claude Code as an MCP Server

Claude Code can also act as an MCP server for other clients. This lets Claude Desktop or other MCP clients use Claude Code's tools (View, Edit, LS, etc.):

# Start Claude Code as an MCP server
claude mcp serve

Add to Claude Desktop's config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "claude",
      "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
      "env": {}
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting

Related Content

• What Is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?
• How to Set Up MCP in Claude Desktop
• Build Your First MCP Server with Python and FastMCP
• ChatGPT MCP Support: OpenAI Agents SDK Setup Guide
• Awesome MCP Servers List

Frequently Asked Questions