SQL Server Express MCP server

This MCP server enables interaction with Microsoft SQL Server Express from Claude Desktop, supporting both Windows and SQL Server authentication methods to execute queries, manage tables, and perform database operations.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10 or higher
• Microsoft ODBC Driver 18 for SQL Server
• SQL Server instance with appropriate permissions

Installation

First, clone the repository and set up your environment:

cd mcp-sqlexpress

# Create and activate virtual environment
uv venv
.venv\Scripts\activate

# Install dependencies
uv pip install --editable .

Configuration

Setting Up with Claude Desktop

Add the MCP server configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "sqlexpress": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "PATH\\TO\\PROJECT\\mcp-sqlexpress",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-sqlexpress",
                "--server",
                "server\\instance",
                "--auth",
                "windows",
                "--trusted-connection",
                "yes",
                "--trust-server-certificate",
                "yes",
                "--allowed-databases",
                "database1,database2"
            ]
        }
    }
}

Authentication Options

The server supports two authentication methods:

For Windows Authentication:

• Set --auth windows
• Set --trusted-connection yes

For SQL Server Authentication:

• Set --auth sql
• Add --username and --password parameters

Available Features

The MCP server provides several tools for database operations:

• get_allowed_databases: Retrieve the list of databases you're permitted to access
• read_query: Execute SELECT queries on your databases
• write_query: Perform INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE operations
• create_table: Create new database tables
• list_tables: View all tables in a specific database
• describe_table: Get detailed schema information for a table

Each of these tools can be invoked through Claude Desktop once the MCP server is properly configured and running.

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 "sqlexpress" '{"command":"uv","args":["--directory","PATH\\TO\\PROJECT\\mcp-sqlexpress","run","mcp-server-sqlexpress","--server","server\\instance","--auth","windows","--trusted-connection","yes","--trust-server-certificate","yes","--allowed-databases","database1,database2"]}'

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": {
        "sqlexpress": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "PATH\\TO\\PROJECT\\mcp-sqlexpress",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-sqlexpress",
                "--server",
                "server\\instance",
                "--auth",
                "windows",
                "--trusted-connection",
                "yes",
                "--trust-server-certificate",
                "yes",
                "--allowed-databases",
                "database1,database2"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "sqlexpress": {
            "command": "uv",
            "args": [
                "--directory",
                "PATH\\TO\\PROJECT\\mcp-sqlexpress",
                "run",
                "mcp-server-sqlexpress",
                "--server",
                "server\\instance",
                "--auth",
                "windows",
                "--trusted-connection",
                "yes",
                "--trust-server-certificate",
                "yes",
                "--allowed-databases",
                "database1,database2"
            ]
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect