MySQL MCP server

MySQL MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol implementation that enables secure interaction between AI applications and MySQL databases. It provides a controlled interface for database exploration and analysis, facilitating safer structured communication without directly exposing the database.

Installation

Via pip

You can install the MySQL MCP Server using pip:

pip install mysql-mcp-server

Via Smithery

For automatic installation with Claude Desktop:

npx -y @smithery/cli install mysql-mcp-server --client claude

Configuration

Set up the necessary environment variables for database access:

MYSQL_HOST=localhost     # Database host
MYSQL_PORT=3306         # Optional: Database port (defaults to 3306)
MYSQL_USER=your_username
MYSQL_PASSWORD=your_password
MYSQL_DATABASE=your_database

Usage

Integration with Claude Desktop

Add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mysql": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "--directory",
        "path/to/mysql_mcp_server",
        "run",
        "mysql_mcp_server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "MYSQL_HOST": "localhost",
        "MYSQL_PORT": "3306",
        "MYSQL_USER": "your_username",
        "MYSQL_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "MYSQL_DATABASE": "your_database"
      }
    }
  }
}

Integration with Visual Studio Code

Add the following to your mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
      "mysql": {
            "type": "stdio",
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "mysql-mcp-server",
                "mysql_mcp_server"
            ],
      "env": {
        "MYSQL_HOST": "localhost",
        "MYSQL_PORT": "3306",
        "MYSQL_USER": "your_username",
        "MYSQL_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "MYSQL_DATABASE": "your_database"
      }
    }
  }
}

Note: You'll need to install uv for this configuration to work.

Debugging with MCP Inspector

For debugging purposes, you can use the MCP Inspector:

# Install dependencies
pip install -r requirements.txt

Security Considerations

When using MySQL MCP Server, follow these security best practices:

• Create a dedicated MySQL user with minimal permissions
• Never use root credentials or administrative accounts
• Restrict database access to only necessary operations
• Enable logging for audit purposes
• Never commit environment variables or credentials
• Consider implementing query whitelisting for production use
• Monitor and log all database operations

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 "mysql" '{"command":"uvx","args":["--from","mysql-mcp-server","mysql_mcp_server"],"env":{"MYSQL_HOST":"localhost","MYSQL_PORT":"3306","MYSQL_USER":"your_username","MYSQL_PASSWORD":"your_password","MYSQL_DATABASE":"your_database"}}'

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": {
        "mysql": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "mysql-mcp-server",
                "mysql_mcp_server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "MYSQL_HOST": "localhost",
                "MYSQL_PORT": "3306",
                "MYSQL_USER": "your_username",
                "MYSQL_PASSWORD": "your_password",
                "MYSQL_DATABASE": "your_database"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "mysql": {
            "command": "uvx",
            "args": [
                "--from",
                "mysql-mcp-server",
                "mysql_mcp_server"
            ],
            "env": {
                "MYSQL_HOST": "localhost",
                "MYSQL_PORT": "3306",
                "MYSQL_USER": "your_username",
                "MYSQL_PASSWORD": "your_password",
                "MYSQL_DATABASE": "your_database"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect