[Windows Compatibility] Claude desktop not detecting tools

[zheroz00]

Hi. Is this the correct config for Claude Desktop if I'm running on the same pc as the metatool-app? When I add this to Claude it sees the entry, but does not list any tools.

{ "mcpServers": { "MetaMCP": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "@metamcp/mcp-server-metamcp@latest"], "env": { "METAMCP_API_KEY": "sk_mt_krMqxWr4RfrOoLxs4C4dZ7KDtE1Fqhg9JfI0sHmi8Q5uxcbEeaLt3ndYY0GMcmw8", "METAMCP_API_BASE_URL": "http://localhost:12005" } } } }

If I run the following from the same machine it connects and I can list the tools I configured in the app.

npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector npx -y @metamcp/mcp-server-metamcp@latest -e METAMCP_API_KEY=sk_mt_krMqxWr4RfrOoLxs4C4dZ7KDtE1Fqhg9JfI0sHmi8Q5uxcbEeaLt3ndYY0GMcmw8 -e METAMCP_API_BASE_URL=http://10.10.10.158:12005

I've tried a few other clients trying to connect and it does the same thing as Claude, it sees the server, but no tools.

Thanks

[zhjch05]

When you refer to pc are you using Windows? I just got some feedbacks last week and got a PC Windows to test, and it doesn't work unfortunately.. There are some known issues reported from Claude Reddit and Cline (similarly Cursor) e.g., https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1h1mmi8/tutorial_get_mcp_working_on_windows/, cline/cline#902

And even with the solutions listed above, the problem is that the SDK try to start new processes of other npx tools, and it failed on Windows because of npm env var issues, and execution policy issues, etc. and it's pretty hard to debug there. So far I worked whole weekend but didn't find any solution.. I will attach this issue to warning in readme first.

The reason inspector works is that running it directly in powershell works fine, but once getting to different MCP client side it depends how MCP client run the script. But it should work on Mac/Linux.

[ssdeanx]

i tried this as well on windows doesnt work. i even ran it in docker and wont work right. is there an api endpoint for cloud?

[zhjch05]

The npm pkg @metamcp/mcp-server-metamcp has to be running in unix based environments. Not only the app running in docker. I tried to fix it for windows but didn't figure out yet.. I am not really familiar with process management in Windows. If you don't give the pkg a api base url, it will defaut to https://api.metamcp.com for cloud. The cloud version is just hosting the metadata of configured MCPs but the proxy is running locally so your MCP can still have access to e.g., your local filesystem or your local database.

[zhjch05]

From this issue from Cline on Windows you may also try to put this config on MetaMCP... as a temporary workaround
cline/cline#902

"mcpServers": {
  "filesystem": {
    "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe",
    "args": [
      "C:\\Users\\<my user>\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\@modelcontextprotocol\\server-filesystem\\dist\\index.js",
      "C:\\Users\\<my user>\\Projects"
    ]
  },
  "brave-search": {
    "command": "C:\\Program Files\\nodejs\\node.exe",
    "args": [
      "C:\\Users\\<my user>\\AppData\\Roaming\\npm\\node_modules\\@modelcontextprotocol\\server-brave-search\\dist\\index.js"
    ],
    "env": {
      "BRAVE_API_KEY": "<my API key>"
    }
  }
}

[zhjch05]

For Windows I found a workaround to use Smithery to host MCPs in docker on cloud then use it.

Steps:

• Setup Smithery CLI on Windows (long steps, harder than Mac/Linux but I tested that it works) https://smithery.ai/docs/smithery-cli
• Use MetaMCP on Smithery https://smithery.ai/server/@metatool-ai/mcp-server-metamcp

Example config for Cline (which works, but still cannot get Cursor working, their client is weird) (and make sure you have network access to both http://api.metamcp.com and smithery.ai, because the MCPs are run on cloud, I am not sure localhost MetaMCP will work or not)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MetaMCP": {
      "command": "smithery",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "@metatool-ai/mcp-server-metamcp",
        "--config",
        "{\"metamcpApiKey\":\"sk_mt_api_key\"}"
      ]
    }
  }
}

[zhjch05]

Added this Smithery setup guide in this PR too #16

[zhjch05]

After the MCP official typescript SDK 1.8.0 release (https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk/releases/tag/1.8.0) the windows compatibility issue is resolved. Also check the official windows issue modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk#101

I recommend this command for setting up in Cursor Windows (still need to prefix cmd /c)
cmd /c npx -y @metamcp/mcp-server-metamcp@latest --metamcp-api-key <apikey> (add base url option if you run the app locally)

or json config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "MetaMCP": {
      "command": "cmd",
      "args": [
        "/c",
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "@metamcp/mcp-server-metamcp@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "METAMCP_API_KEY": "<apikey>"
      }
    }
  }
}

I will update relevant docs soon. Please comment if it works for you, appreciate it, or reopen the issue if this persists.