MySQL MCP Server

Install the server via pip or use uvx to run it without a permanent install. The pip package is named mysql-mcp-server.

pip install mysql-mcp-server

Before wiring up the MCP server, confirm you can connect to your database with the credentials you plan to use. The server needs at least SELECT permission; for write operations it needs INSERT, UPDATE, and DELETE as well.

mysql -h localhost -u your_username -p your_database

Add the MySQL MCP server to your claude_desktop_config.json. The five core environment variables are MYSQL_HOST, MYSQL_PORT, MYSQL_USER, MYSQL_PASSWORD, and MYSQL_DATABASE.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mysql": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mysql_mcp_server"],
      "env": {
        "MYSQL_HOST": "localhost",
        "MYSQL_PORT": "3306",
        "MYSQL_USER": "your_username",
        "MYSQL_PASSWORD": "your_password",
        "MYSQL_DATABASE": "your_database"
      }
    }
  }
}

For production databases, add MYSQL_SSL_MODE to enforce encrypted connections. REQUIRED enforces TLS without certificate verification; VERIFY_IDENTITY adds full hostname verification.

"MYSQL_SSL_MODE": "REQUIRED"

If your MySQL server is only accessible via a bastion/jump host, enable SSH tunneling with these additional environment variables in your MCP config.

"MYSQL_SSH_ENABLE": "true",
"MYSQL_SSH_HOST": "bastion.example.com",
"MYSQL_SSH_PORT": "22",
"MYSQL_SSH_USER": "ubuntu",
"MYSQL_SSH_KEY_PATH": "/Users/you/.ssh/id_rsa"

Restart Claude Desktop. You should now be able to ask Claude to list tables, describe schemas, or query data in your MySQL database using the three available tools: execute_sql, get_schema_info, and get_table_sample.