Claude Desktop API MCP

How to Set Up and Use Claude Desktop API MCP

Claude Desktop API Use via MCP is a Python-based MCP server that bridges Claude Desktop with the Anthropic Claude API, enabling Claude Desktop users to make direct API calls beyond their Professional Plan limits — with support for custom system prompts, named conversation threads, longer context windows, and conversation history management. It exposes three MCP tools (query_claude, clear_conversation, and get_conversation_history) and is invoked by prefixing messages with @claude-api in Claude Desktop. Developers and power users who want to use Claude Desktop as a front-end while programmatically controlling model parameters and maintaining persistent conversation state will find it useful.

git clone https://github.com/mlobo2012/Claude_Desktop_API_USE_VIA_MCP.git
cd Claude_Desktop_API_USE_VIA_MCP

pip install -r requirements.txt

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env and set:
# ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-api": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/Claude_Desktop_API_USE_VIA_MCP/src/claude_api_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-api": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/Claude_Desktop_API_USE_VIA_MCP/src/claude_api_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "your_api_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

- "@claude-api What is the capital of France?"
- "@claude-api {\"system_prompt\": \"You are an expert fitness coach\"} Create a 30-day workout plan"
- "@claude-api {\"conversation_id\": \"project1\"} Let's discuss Python best practices"
- "@claude-api {\"conversation_id\": \"project1\"} Continue — what about error handling?"
- "@claude-api get_conversation_history project1"
- "@claude-api clear_conversation project1"