Connect to Claude Desktop
Connect to Claude Desktop
By the end of this guide, Claude Desktop will be able to search your indexed collections — your Jira tickets, Confluence pages, and local docs — as naturally as any other tool.
Prerequisites
- Indexed installed
- At least one collection created (see Quick Start or any connector guide)
- Claude Desktop installed
Add the MCP Server Config
Open your Claude Desktop configuration file and add the Indexed MCP server:
Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"indexed": {
"command": "indexed",
"args": ["mcp", "run"]
}
}
}File doesn't exist?
Create it. The directory should already exist if Claude Desktop is installed. If not, create it too.
Edit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"indexed": {
"command": "indexed",
"args": ["mcp", "run"]
}
}
}Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"indexed": {
"command": "indexed",
"args": ["mcp", "run"]
}
}
}Installed from source?
If you installed Indexed from source with uv, use this config instead:
{
"mcpServers": {
"indexed": {
"command": "uv",
"args": ["--directory", "/path/to/indexed", "run", "indexed-mcp"]
}
}
}Replace /path/to/indexed with the actual path to your cloned repository.
Restart Claude Desktop
Quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it. The MCP server connects on startup.
Verify It Works
In a new Claude Desktop conversation, try a query that relates to your indexed content:
"Search my indexed documents for information about deployment procedures"
Claude should invoke the Indexed MCP tools and return results from your collections. You can also ask Claude directly:
"What tools do you have available from Indexed?"
Claude should list the search and search_collection tools.
How It Works
When Claude Desktop starts, it launches Indexed's MCP server using stdio transport. Claude can then call two tools:
search(query)— searches across all your collectionssearch_collection(collection, query)— searches a specific collection
Claude decides when to use these tools based on your conversation. If you ask about something that might be in your indexed knowledge, Claude will search for it automatically.
Troubleshooting
Claude doesn't show Indexed tools
- Verify the config JSON is valid (no trailing commas, correct quotes)
- Ensure
indexedis on your PATH — runwhich indexedin a terminal - Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen, not just close the window)
Search returns empty results
- Verify you have collections: run
indexed index inspectin a terminal - Try searching from the CLI first:
indexed index search "your query" - If CLI search works but MCP doesn't, the issue is likely the config path
Transport issues
The default stdio transport is recommended for Claude Desktop. If you need HTTP transport (e.g., for remote access), see Run with Docker.