Claude Desktop Setup

Guide for configuring Claude Desktop with Maven MCP servers.

Overview

Claude Desktop is Anthropic’s desktop application for Claude. It provides a GUI interface and supports MCP servers through a JSON configuration file.

Installation

Download Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download for your platform:

  • macOS

  • Windows

Configuration File

Claude Desktop uses a JSON configuration file for MCP servers:

Platform Location

macOS

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

MCP Configuration

Create or edit the configuration file with your MCP servers:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "maven-mail": {
      "type": "streamable-http",
      "url": "http://localhost:58080/mcp"
    },
    "github": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
      "env": {
        "GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<your-github-token>"
      }
    },
    "atlassian": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run", "-i", "--rm",
        "-e", "CONFLUENCE_URL",
        "-e", "CONFLUENCE_USERNAME",
        "-e", "CONFLUENCE_TOKEN",
        "-e", "JIRA_URL",
        "-e", "JIRA_USERNAME",
        "-e", "JIRA_TOKEN",
        "ghcr.io/sooperset/mcp-atlassian:latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "CONFLUENCE_URL": "https://cwiki.apache.org/confluence",
        "CONFLUENCE_USERNAME": "<your-email>",
        "CONFLUENCE_TOKEN": "<your-confluence-pat>",
        "JIRA_URL": "https://issues.apache.org/jira",
        "JIRA_USERNAME": "<your-email>",
        "JIRA_TOKEN": "<your-jira-pat>"
      }
    }
  }
}
Mail MCP uses Streamable HTTP transport. Ensure the mail-mcp Docker services are running (docker compose up -d in the mail-mcp directory) before starting Claude Desktop.

Configuration Scope

Claude Desktop uses a user-level configuration only. Unlike Claude Code, there is no project-level scope.

All MCP servers configured in Claude Desktop are available in every conversation.

Verification

After editing the configuration:

  1. Restart Claude Desktop

  2. Open a new conversation

  3. Ask Claude to use one of the MCP tools:

    Search for recent Maven 4 discussions in the mailing lists

If MCPs are configured correctly, Claude will use the available tools to answer your question.

Troubleshooting

MCPs Not Available

  • Verify the configuration file path is correct for your platform

  • Check JSON syntax (use a JSON validator)

  • Restart Claude Desktop after configuration changes

Docker Commands Fail

  • Ensure Docker Desktop is running

  • Verify the docker-compose.yml path is absolute

  • Test the command manually in a terminal

Permission Errors

  • Check file permissions on the configuration file

  • Ensure tokens have the required scopes

Comparison with Claude Code

Feature Claude Code Claude Desktop

Interface

CLI

GUI

MCP Scopes

User-level and project-level

User-level only

Configuration

claude mcp add or JSON

JSON only

Best For

Development workflows, automation

General queries, document analysis

Related