Think Tool MCP server

The Think Tool MCP Server provides Claude with a dedicated space for structured reasoning during complex problem-solving tasks, enabling more thoughtful, accurate, and reliable responses. This implementation follows Anthropic's official "think" tool design, which has shown significant performance improvements across various complex tasks.

Installation Options

Quick Installation

For Claude Desktop

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @PhillipRt/think-mcp-server --client claude --config "{}"

For Cursor

npx -y @smithery/cli@latest install @PhillipRt/think-mcp-server --client cursor --config "{}"

Manual Installation

If you prefer to run the server locally:

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/PhillipRt/think-mcp-server.git
   cd think-mcp-server
   

2. Install dependencies:

   npm install
   

3. Build and run:

   npm run build
   npm start
   

4. Configure Claude Desktop manually:

   Find or create the configuration file:

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

   Add your server configuration:

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "think-tool": {
         "command": "node",
         "args": ["path/to/think-mcp-server/dist/server.js"]
       }
     }
   }
   

Usage and Configuration

Benefits of the Think Tool

The Think Tool provides significant advantages:

• 54% improvement in complex customer service tasks
• Better adherence to detailed policies and guidelines
• Enhanced consistency across multiple trials
• Improved performance on software engineering benchmarks

When to Use the Think Tool

The "think" tool is especially valuable when:

• Working with other MCP tools (databases, filesystems, APIs)
• Following complex policies in customer service, legal, or compliance scenarios
• Making sequential decisions where later steps depend on earlier ones
• Processing web search results from multiple sources
• Solving coding challenges

Setting Up System Prompts for Optimal Results

For Claude Desktop (Custom Instructions)

1. Go to Settings > Custom Instructions
2. Add the following system prompt:

You have access to a "think" tool that provides a dedicated space for structured reasoning. Using this tool significantly improves your performance on complex tasks.

## When to use the think tool

Before taking any action or responding to the user after receiving tool results, use the think tool as a scratchpad to:
- List the specific rules that apply to the current request
- Check if all required information is collected
- Verify that the planned action complies with all policies
- Iterate over tool results for correctness
- Analyze complex information from web searches or other tools
- Plan multi-step approaches before executing them

## How to use the think tool effectively

When using the think tool:
1. Break down complex problems into clearly defined steps
2. Identify key facts, constraints, and requirements
3. Check for gaps in information and plan how to fill them
4. Evaluate multiple approaches before choosing one
5. Verify your reasoning for logical errors or biases

Remember that using the think tool has been shown to improve your performance by up to 54% on complex tasks, especially when working with multiple tools or following detailed policies.

For Cursor (Global Rules)

1. Open Cursor Settings
2. Navigate to General > Rules for AI
3. Add a new rule with the following content:

After any context change (viewing new files, running commands, or receiving tool outputs), use the "mcp_think" tool to organize your reasoning before responding.

Specifically, always use the think tool when:
- After examining file contents or project structure
- After running terminal commands or analyzing their outputs
- After receiving search results or API responses
- Before making code suggestions or explaining complex concepts
- When transitioning between different parts of a task

When using the think tool:
- List the specific rules or constraints that apply to the current task
- Check if all required information is collected
- Verify that your planned approach is correct
- Break down complex problems into clearly defined steps
- Analyze outputs from other tools thoroughly
- Plan multi-step approaches before executing them

The think tool has been proven to improve performance by up to 54% on complex tasks, especially when working with multiple tools or following detailed policies.

How the Think Tool Works

The tool provides Claude with a dedicated scratchpad to work through reasoning step-by-step. When using it, Claude:

• Pauses to organize thoughts before continuing a complex reasoning chain
• Creates a structured approach to multi-step problems
• Verifies policy compliance more thoroughly
• Carefully analyzes tool outputs before deciding next steps
• Maintains better context awareness across long interactions

How to add this MCP server to 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 > MCP and click "Add new global MCP server".

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

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "cursor-rules-mcp": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "cursor-rules-mcp"
            ]
        }
    }
}

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 explictly ask the agent to use the tool by mentioning the tool name and describing what the function does.