Clients
Every client stores MCP configuration in its own file and format. Each page here shows where the file lives on each operating system, the exact keys it expects, and the mistakes that stop a server from loading.
Clients
Section titled “Clients”| Client | Configuration | Tested by us |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Code | .mcp.json or ~/.claude.json, via claude mcp add |
Yes, Linux |
| Codex | ~/.codex/config.toml, via codex mcp add |
Yes, Linux |
| Cursor | ~/.cursor/mcp.json or .cursor/mcp.json |
Not yet |
| Cherry Studio | Settings → MCP, JSON import | Not yet |
To skip the reading, the config generator writes the configuration for any of these clients.
Same server, different keys
Section titled “Same server, different keys”| Claude Code | Codex | Cursor | Cherry Studio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Format | JSON | TOML | JSON | JSON |
| Root key | mcpServers |
mcp_servers |
mcpServers |
mcpServers |
| Remote address | url with "type": "http" |
url |
url |
url or baseUrl, with "type": "streamableHttp" |
| Secrets from the environment | ${NAME} |
env_vars, bearer_token_env_var |
${env:NAME} |
Not supported, as far as we know |
MCPDev is community documentation. It is not affiliated with the Model Context Protocol project or with the vendors of the clients it covers.