GraphQL MCP server for AI agents

GraphQL MCP Server is a TypeScript implementation of the Model Context Protocol that allows you to interact with any GraphQL API through Claude AI. It automatically discovers GraphQL operations from your API's schema and exposes them as tools for Claude to use.

Installation

Using npm

# Install globally
npm install -g graphql-mcp

# Run the server
graphql-mcp-server

Using Git

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/ctkadvisors/graphql-mcp.git
cd graphql-mcp

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Run the server
npm start

Setup

Environment Configuration

Create an environment file:

cp .env.sample .env.development

Edit .env.development to include:
- Your GraphQL API endpoint
- API key (if required)
- Optional query/mutation whitelists

Building and Running

# Build the TypeScript code
npm run build

# Run the server
node dist/graphql-mcp-server.js

# Or use the provided script to build and run in one step
./run-graphql-mcp.sh

Claude Desktop Integration

Use the sample configuration:

cp claude_desktop_sample_config.json ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Edit the configuration file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "graphql": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/dist/graphql-mcp-server.js"],
      "env": {
        "GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT": "https://your-graphql-api.com/graphql",
        "GRAPHQL_API_KEY": "your-api-key-if-needed",
        "WHITELISTED_QUERIES": "[\"countries\",\"continent\",\"languages\"]"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop to connect to the server

Security Controls

Controlling Available Operations

By default, mutations are disabled for security. You can enable them and control which operations are exposed:

"env": {
  "GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT": "https://example-graphql-api.com/graphql",
  "ENABLE_MUTATIONS": "true",
  "WHITELISTED_QUERIES": "[\"countries\",\"continent\",\"languages\"]",
  "WHITELISTED_MUTATIONS": "[\"createUser\",\"updateProfile\"]"
}

Whitelist formats:

JSON array string: "[\"query1\",\"query2\"]"
Comma-separated list: "query1,query2,query3"

Correct Whitelist Format

"env": {
  "GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT": "https://example-graphql-api.com/graphql",
  "ENABLE_MUTATIONS": "true",
  "WHITELISTED_QUERIES": "[\"getUser\",\"getProducts\",\"getOrders\"]",
  "WHITELISTED_MUTATIONS": "[\"createOrder\",\"updateProfile\"]"
}

Using with Claude

Executing Queries

Simple query:

View result from countries from graphql (local){}

Query with parameters:

View result from country from graphql (local){
  "code": "US"
}

Executing Mutations

Basic mutation:

View result from mutation_createUser from graphql (local){
  "name": "John Doe",
  "email": "[email protected]"
}

Complex mutation:

View result from mutation_updateProduct from graphql (local){
  "id": "prod-123",
  "input": {
    "name": "Updated Product Name",
    "price": 29.99,
    "description": "This is an updated product description"
  }
}

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 "graphql" '{"command":"node","args":["/absolute/path/to/dist/graphql-mcp-server.js"],"env":{"GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT":"https://your-graphql-api.com/graphql","GRAPHQL_API_KEY":"your-api-key-if-needed","WHITELISTED_QUERIES":"[\"countries\",\"continent\",\"languages\"]"}}'

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": {
        "graphql": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/absolute/path/to/dist/graphql-mcp-server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT": "https://your-graphql-api.com/graphql",
                "GRAPHQL_API_KEY": "your-api-key-if-needed",
                "WHITELISTED_QUERIES": "[\"countries\",\"continent\",\"languages\"]"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "graphql": {
            "command": "node",
            "args": [
                "/absolute/path/to/dist/graphql-mcp-server.js"
            ],
            "env": {
                "GRAPHQL_API_ENDPOINT": "https://your-graphql-api.com/graphql",
                "GRAPHQL_API_KEY": "your-api-key-if-needed",
                "WHITELISTED_QUERIES": "[\"countries\",\"continent\",\"languages\"]"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect