Anthropic's Claude Desktop application provides native support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP). By connecting Claude Desktop to @schmadev/mcp-server, Claude can interact directly with your SCHMA workspace to analyze content models, retrieve live entry data, search entries semantically, and generate new content structures.

Claude Desktop and SCHMA MCP overview

Once configured, Claude Desktop launches the SCHMA MCP server as a local child process over standard I/O (stdio). During conversations, Claude automatically identifies when your prompt requires information from your CMS and invokes the appropriate MCP tool (such as list_content_types or get_schema) to provide grounded, real-time answers.

Finding your Claude Desktop configuration file

Claude Desktop stores its MCP server definitions in a single JSON configuration file named claude_desktop_config.json. The file location depends on your operating system:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (typically C:\Users\<Username>\AppData\Roaming\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json)

Adding SCHMA to claude_desktop_config.json

Open claude_desktop_config.json in your preferred text editor and add the schma server block under the top-level mcpServers object:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "schma": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@schmadev/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "SCHMA_API_URL": "https://api.schma.dev",
        "SCHMA_API_KEY": "schma_live_your_actual_api_key_here",
        "SCHMA_TENANT_SLUG": "your-workspace-slug"
      }
    }
  }
}

If claude_desktop_config.json already contains other MCP servers, insert "schma": { ... } alongside them inside the existing "mcpServers" dictionary.

Restarting Claude and verifying connected tools

After saving the configuration file:

1. Completely quit and restart Claude Desktop: Claude only reads claude_desktop_config.json during application startup. Quitting and relaunching forces Claude to spawn the new MCP process.
2. Check the hammer/tool icon: Look at the bottom right corner of Claude's chat input field. You should see a hammer icon indicating that active MCP tools are registered.
3. Ask Claude to inspect your project: Type *'List all content types in my SCHMA workspace'*. Claude will invoke list_content_types and summarize your models.

Diagnosing process startup and auth errors

If the hammer icon does not appear or tool calls fail, consult these verified diagnostic steps:

• GUI Path issue (macOS): On macOS, applications launched from the Finder or Dock may not inherit custom PATH variables defined in .zshrc or .bash_profile. If Claude cannot find npx, specify the absolute path to npx in the command field (e.g. /usr/local/bin/npx or /opt/homebrew/bin/npx). Find your exact path by running which npx in your terminal.
• JSON syntax errors: Ensure your claude_desktop_config.json is strictly valid JSON without trailing commas, single quotes, or comments.
• Inspect Claude Desktop logs: Claude logs MCP process output. On macOS, inspect ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp*.log. On Windows, inspect %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp*.log. These logs display stdout/stderr from @schmadev/mcp-server during startup.
• Authentication and Quota (401/403): If tool calls return an error message, verify that your API key is active in SCHMA Studio under Settings > API Keys and that your workspace is on the Pro tier.