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How do I add a remote MCP server to Claude Desktop?

Recipe verified on Ran on the public demo (read-only) Tested: the address and key header in the example, with an MCP client; Claude Desktop's settings as Anthropic documents them
Short answer

Two ways. Servers that support sign-in (OAuth) are added under Settings, Connectors, Add custom connector, with just their URL. Servers that use an API key go in claude_desktop_config.json through the mcp-remote bridge, with the key passed as a header.

Steps

  1. Edit the config file. Settings, Developer, Edit Config, then add (here, the public demo): 
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcpdata-demo": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://demo.mcpdata.org/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH}"],
      "env": { "AUTH": "Bearer cdb_live_PkVoldus8qcE-hqffjajNZzQwiA7rTHMoR4RLSAxsCE" }
    }
  }
}
  2. Restart Claude Desktop.
  3. Ask your question. Give your AI this prompt:
    Using mcpdata, list the tables you can see.
What your AI does: the tool call it makes for this prompt, and what came back
list_tables() → 3 tables: Demo.Orders, Demo.Products, Demo.Customers
What you should get · the recipe's real result from its last run
tablerowslast_updated
Demo.Orders10,005,0002026-10-27 20:05:07.103000
Demo.Products2,0002026-10-27 19:50:37.321000
Demo.Customers200,0002026-10-27 19:50:36.983000

Synthetic data: the demo's orders are generated, not real customers.

Ask Claude with this prompt Ask ChatGPT with this prompt

The assistant needs mcpdata connected (step 1) to run the query.

Why this works

Claude Desktop runs local MCP servers from its config file; mcp-remote is a local program that forwards to a remote server. mcpdata instances take an API key today (connecting by sign-in is in testing), so use the config file with your instance's address and key.

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