MCP Installer MCP server

Install and configure additional MCP servers dynamically.
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Setup instructions
Provider
Anaïs Betts
Release date
Nov 26, 2024
Language
TypeScript
Package
Stats
40.3K downloads
1.3K stars

This MCP server acts as an installer for other MCP servers. After installation, you can simply ask Claude to install MCP servers that are hosted in npm or PyPi for you. The installer requires npx and uv to be already installed on your system for handling Node.js and Python servers respectively.

Installation

To install the MCP installer, you need to add it to your Claude configuration file. The location of this file depends on your operating system:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: C:\Users\NAME\AppData\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Add the following JSON to your configuration file:

"mcpServers": {
  "mcp-installer": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": [
      "@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
    ]
  }
}

Usage

Once installed, you can ask Claude to install other MCP servers for you. Here are some example prompts you can use:

Basic Installation

To install an MCP server by name:

Hey Claude, install the MCP server named mcp-server-fetch

Installation with Arguments

To install a package with specific arguments:

Hey Claude, install the @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem package as an MCP server. Use ['/Users/anibetts/Desktop'] for the arguments

Installation from Local Path

To install an MCP server from a local path:

Hi Claude, please install the MCP server at /Users/anibetts/code/mcp-youtube, I'm too lazy to do it myself.

Installation with Environment Variables

To install a server and set environment variables:

Install the server @modelcontextprotocol/server-github. Set the environment variable GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN to '1234567890'

How to install this MCP server

For Claude Code

To add this MCP server to Claude Code, run this command in your terminal:

claude mcp add-json "mcp-installer" '{"command":"npx","args":["@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"]}'

See the official Claude Code MCP documentation for more details.

For Cursor

There are two ways to add an MCP server to Cursor. The most common way is to add the server globally in the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file so that it is available in all of your projects.

If you only need the server in a single project, you can add it to the project instead by creating or adding it to the .cursor/mcp.json file.

Adding an MCP server to Cursor globally

To add a global MCP server go to Cursor Settings > Tools & Integrations and click "New MCP Server".

When you click that button the ~/.cursor/mcp.json file will be opened and you can add your server like this:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp-installer": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Adding an MCP server to a project

To add an MCP server to a project you can create a new .cursor/mcp.json file or add it to the existing one. This will look exactly the same as the global MCP server example above.

How to use the MCP server

Once the server is installed, you might need to head back to Settings > MCP and click the refresh button.

The Cursor agent will then be able to see the available tools the added MCP server has available and will call them when it needs to.

You can also explicitly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.

For Claude Desktop

To add this MCP server to Claude Desktop:

1. Find your configuration file:

  • macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
  • Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

2. Add this to your configuration file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "mcp-installer": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect

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