Guide · Claude Desktop

Add whatcanido to Claude Desktop in 60 seconds.

One config block. One restart. Four whatcanido tools (find_providers, get_provider_actions, submit_action, get_action_status) appear in Claude Desktop's tool palette and reach every provider across CRM, LeadKit, ProjectKit, and Bookio.

Open Claude Desktop config

In Claude Desktop, click Settings → Developer → Edit Config. The file opens in your default editor.

If you prefer to find it manually:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Paste the universal config (recommended)

This config runs mcp-remote as a local stdio bridge to the remote whatcanido MCP server. Works with every version of Claude Desktop. Replaces any existing mcpServers block, or merges with one if you already have other MCP servers configured.

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whatcanido": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://whatcanido.dev/api/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Already on a newer Claude Desktop that speaks Streamable HTTP natively? Use the direct config instead:

direct Streamable HTTP

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "whatcanido": {
      "url": "https://whatcanido.dev/api/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd-Q on macOS, system tray quit on Windows) and reopen it. The whatcanido tool surface appears in the palette automatically. If they don't, see the troubleshooting section below.

Try a prompt

Paste any of these into Claude Desktop:

“Find me a Brooklyn designer for a landing page, budget €1500, send a structured request. My email is you@example.com.”
“Book Vinyasa yoga at Studio Sangha tomorrow morning. My name is Jane, phone +1-555-0100.”
“Pull up invoice INV-0411 from Acme Consulting and send me the payment link.”

Claude walks the whatcanido tool surface and reports the result. More examples on the /agents page.

Troubleshooting

If something fails

“Failed to connect to MCP server”

Curl the server first. You should see a JSON banner that lists the tool surface:
probe
```
curl https://whatcanido.dev/api/mcp
```
Open Claude Desktop logs at Settings → Developer → Logs → MCP. The mcp-remote bridge logs each step.
Validate your claude_desktop_config.json is valid JSON. A trailing comma will silently break it; use a JSON validator.

“npx: command not found”

Install Node.js 18+ from nodejs.org. npx ships with npm, which ships with Node.

Tools appear but never return a result

Confirm Claude Desktop has tool-use enabled for the model you're using. Some older Claude variants do not call tools without explicit permission. The latest Claude Opus and Sonnet handle MCP tools automatically.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

Where is claude_desktop_config.json on macOS?

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. On Windows it lives at %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. The fastest way to open it is Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config, which opens the file in your default editor.

What's the difference between the universal and direct configs?

The universal config runs mcp-remote as a local stdio process that bridges Claude Desktop to the remote MCP server. Works with every version of Claude Desktop. The direct config tells Claude Desktop to speak Streamable HTTP directly to the server. Works only with newer releases that support remote HTTP MCP natively.

Do I need to install mcp-remote first?

No. npx -y handles the install automatically the first time the bridge starts. Subsequent invocations use the cached version. Disk cost: about 6 MB.

Claude Desktop says 'failed to connect to MCP server'. What now?

Three checks: (1) Curl the server at https://whatcanido.dev/api/mcp — you should see a JSON banner. (2) Open Claude Desktop logs (Settings → Developer → Logs → MCP) and look for the failure message; mcp-remote logs each step. (3) Verify your config file is valid JSON; a trailing comma will silently break it.

Can I use multiple MCP servers at once?

Yes. mcpServers is an object keyed by server name. Add whatcanido alongside whatever else you have configured; each entry is independent.