Connecting tools with MCP

Give Claude Code access to GitHub, a database, or your filesystem. The three scopes, the transports that matter, and one working config.

Claude CodeLast reviewed September 3, 2026

In one minute

MCP (Model Context Protocol) connects Claude Code to an external tool: a database, an API, your filesystem.
Project-scoped servers live in .mcp.json at your repo root, committed to git.
Prefer http for a remote server. sse still works but is deprecated.
Watch this one: an entry with a url but no type field. Claude Code treats that as an error, not a default.

What it is

An MCP server exposes a set of tools, read a file, query a database, search an API, that Claude Code can call the same way it calls its own built-in tools. It is how you connect Claude to something specific to your stack without waiting for Anthropic to build it in.

The smallest working example

.mcp.json

{
"mcpServers": {
  "github": {
    "type": "http",
    "url": "https://mcp.github.com",
    "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${GITHUB_TOKEN}" }
  }
}
}

.mcp.json at your repo root is committed to git. Everyone on the team gets the same server, and Claude Code asks for approval the first time each person uses it.
type: "http" is the current standard transport for a remote server. In JSON, "streamable-http" is accepted as an alias for "http".
Environment variable syntax like ${GITHUB_TOKEN} keeps the actual secret out of the committed file.

Check it worked.

Restart Claude Code in the project. On first use, it prompts you to approve the github server before any tool call goes through.

The three scopes

Scope	Where	Shared?
Local	`~/.claude.json`, tied to this project	Just you
User	`~/.claude.json`	Just you, every project
Project	`.mcp.json` at the repo root	Your whole team, via git

Add a server with claude mcp add rather than editing the file by hand. It writes to the correct scope for you.

Transports

stdio: a local child process. The default, and the simplest for a server that runs on your own machine.
http: streamable HTTP. The current standard for anything remote.
sse: deprecated. Migrate to http when a server offers both.
ws: WebSocket, configured only via the file, not the CLI.

A url with no type is an error

If an entry has a url field but no type field, Claude Code treats it as a configuration error rather than guessing a transport. Always set type explicitly.

How it behaves

MCP tools are permissionable the same way built-in tools are, using rules like mcp__github__*.
MCP resources and prompts a server exposes surface as slash commands automatically.
Import servers you already configured in Claude Desktop with claude mcp add-from-claude-desktop, instead of retyping them.
When a project has enough tools that they start crowding your context, Claude Code can defer tool definitions and load them on demand. This activates automatically once tools cross a size threshold.

When not to use it

MCP connects Claude to a tool. If what you actually need is a reusable procedure, a set of steps rather than a live data source, that is a skill instead.

Last reviewed September 3, 2026 · verified against Anthropic's Claude Code docs, Sep 2026

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