# mcp-hosts-installer

**Install Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers from npm, PyPI, or a local path — directly from Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, or Claude Desktop.**
One setup: add this server once, then ask the model to install other MCP packages for you.

| Registry | Short |
|----------|--------|
| **npm** | `npx -y mcp-hosts-installer` |
| **GitHub** | [soufgit/mcp-hosts-installer](https://github.com/soufgit/mcp-hosts-installer) |

<div align="center">

![Maintainer](https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/182288589?s=200&v=4)

  <p><strong>MCP installer for Claude Code, Cursor, VS Code, and Claude Desktop</strong> — register remote or local MCP servers in the host's config (<code>settings.json</code> / <code>mcp.json</code> / <code>claude_desktop_config.json</code>).</p>

  [![License: MIT](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-MIT-yellow.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
  [![npm version](https://img.shields.io/npm/v/mcp-hosts-installer.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-hosts-installer)
  [![npm downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dt/mcp-hosts-installer.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-hosts-installer)
  [![npm weekly downloads](https://img.shields.io/npm/dw/mcp-hosts-installer.svg)](https://www.npmjs.com/package/mcp-hosts-installer)
  [![GitHub Repo stars](https://img.shields.io/github/stars/soufgit/mcp-hosts-installer?style=social)](https://github.com/soufgit/mcp-hosts-installer)
  [![MCP](https://img.shields.io/badge/MCP-Compatible-brightgreen.svg)](https://modelcontextprotocol.io)
  [![Claude Code](https://img.shields.io/badge/Claude_Code-black.svg)](https://claude.ai/code)
  [![Claude Desktop](https://img.shields.io/badge/Claude_Desktop-blue.svg)](https://claude.ai/download)
  [![Cursor](https://img.shields.io/badge/Cursor-IDE-blue.svg)](https://cursor.com)
  [![VS Code](https://img.shields.io/badge/VS_Code-IDE-blue.svg)](https://code.visualstudio.com/)

</div>

## What you get

- **Tools exposed to the host**: `install_repo_mcp_server` (npm/PyPI package name) and `install_local_mcp_server` (folder path), with optional `args`, `env`, and target `host` (`claude-code` \| `cursor` \| `vscode` \| `claude`).
- **Default host**: when `host` is omitted, the tool picks a client that **already has** a config file in the usual folder (Cursor first, then VS Code, then Claude Code, then Claude Desktop); if none exist, it targets **Cursor**.
- **Prerequisites**: [Node.js](https://nodejs.org/) with `npx`; for Python-based servers from PyPI, [`uv`](https://github.com/astral-sh/uv) is used.

## Install this MCP server in your host

### Claude Code ⭐

The fastest way — one CLI command:

```sh
claude mcp add mcp-hosts-installer npx -- -y mcp-hosts-installer
```

Or manually in `~/.claude/settings.json` (created automatically if it doesn't exist):

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hosts-installer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-hosts-installer"]
    }
  }
}
```

Then ask Claude Code:

> Install the MCP server @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem for claude-code

### Cursor

`mcp.json` — macOS: `~/.cursor`, Windows: `%USERPROFILE%\.cursor`.

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hosts-installer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-hosts-installer"]
    }
  }
}
```

### VS Code

User-level `mcp.json`: macOS `~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/mcp.json`, Windows `%APPDATA%\Code\User\mcp.json`, Linux `~/.config/Code/User/mcp.json`. In VS Code: command **MCP: Open User Configuration**.

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hosts-installer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-hosts-installer"]
    }
  }
}
```

### Claude Desktop

`claude_desktop_config.json` — macOS: `~/Library/Application Support/Claude`, Windows: `%APPDATA%\Claude`.

```json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hosts-installer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-hosts-installer"]
    }
  }
}
```

If you don't pass `host`, use the inference above or set `host` to `"claude-code"`, `"claude"`, `"cursor"`, or `"vscode"` explicitly.

## Example prompts

> Install the MCP server named mcp-server-fetch

> Please install the MCP server at /Users/NAME/code/mcp-youtube, I'm too lazy to do it myself.

> Install the MCP server @modelcontextprotocol/server-github for claude-code. Set the environment variable GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN to '1234567890'

## Repository visibility (GitHub)

After pushing, add **topics** on the repo page so search and "Explore" surface the project, for example: `mcp`, `model-context-protocol`, `cursor`, `vscode`, `claude-desktop`, `claude-code`, `npm`, `developer-tools`, `ai`.