Readwise MCP server

The Readwise MCP server provides integration between Large Language Models and your Readwise content, allowing AI assistants like Claude to access your saved articles, books, and highlights. This implementation follows the Model Context Protocol standard that separates context management from LLM interaction.

Installation

To install and configure the Readwise MCP server for Claude:

1. Ensure you have Node.js installed on your system
2. Open the Claude desktop application
3. Navigate to Settings > Developer
4. Click Edit Config
5. Add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "Readwise MCP": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@readwise/readwise-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ACCESS_TOKEN": "XXXXXXXXX"
      }
    }
  }
}

6. Replace XXXXXXXXX with your personal Readwise Access Token

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Could not attach to MCP server Readwise MCP"

This error typically indicates an issue with your Node.js configuration:

• If you're using nvm (Node Version Manager), try running nvm use 18 in your terminal
• If not using nvm, consider reinstalling Node.js

Errors when calling Readwise tools

If you encounter MCP errors during conversations with Claude:

• Try switching between different Claude models (e.g., from Claude 3.5 Haiku to Claude 3.7 Sonnet)
• This often resolves integration issues between the model and the MCP server

For additional troubleshooting guidance, refer to the official Model Context Protocol Claude Desktop Troubleshooting section.

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 "Readwise-MCP" '{"command":"npx","args":["-y","@readwise/readwise-mcp"],"env":{"ACCESS_TOKEN":"XXXXXXXXX"}}'

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": {
        "Readwise MCP": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@readwise/readwise-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ACCESS_TOKEN": "XXXXXXXXX"
            }
        }
    }
}

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": {
        "Readwise MCP": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "-y",
                "@readwise/readwise-mcp"
            ],
            "env": {
                "ACCESS_TOKEN": "XXXXXXXXX"
            }
        }
    }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect