AI Starter Package
Guides/MCP Quickstart

MCP Servers Quickstart

Model Context Protocol (MCP) connects Claude to external tools — databases, APIs, browsers, and file systems. This guide gets your first server running in under 5 minutes.

MCPIntegrationsExtends Claude

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets AI models talk to external tools using a defined interface. Instead of writing custom integrations for every service, MCP provides a single protocol that any server can implement and any AI client can use.

When you add an MCP server to Claude Code, its capabilities appear as native tools Claude can call — searching GitHub, querying a database, or browsing a website becomes as natural as asking a question.

How it works
You ask Claude→Claude calls MCP tool→Server responds→Claude answers

Adding Your First MCP Server (GitHub)

1

Create a GitHub Personal Access Token

Go to GitHub → Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Fine-grained tokens. Create a token with repository read/write access.

2

Add the MCP Server

# Add GitHub MCP server with your token
$ claude mcp add github -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-github
# You will be prompted to enter your token
GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: ••••••••••••••
3

Verify the Connection

$ claude
> List my most recent GitHub repositories
Found 12 repositories: my-app, cli-tool, ...

Configuration in settings.json

Claude Code stores MCP configuration in ~/.claude/settings.json. You can also add project-level servers in .claude/settings.json.

// ~/.claude/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"github": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"],
"env": {
"GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN": "ghp_..."
}
}
}
}
Security Note
Never commit settings.json with real tokens to source control. Use environment variable references or the local settings file.

Top 10 MCP Servers

These are the most widely used MCP servers in production AI workflows:

01

GitHub

@modelcontextprotocol/server-github

Read/write repos, PRs, issues, and code search from Claude

02

Filesystem

@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem

Expose local directories as readable/writable tools

03

PostgreSQL

@modelcontextprotocol/server-postgres

Query and inspect PostgreSQL databases with natural language

04

Apify

@apify/actors-mcp-server

Access 20,000+ web scrapers — scrape any site from Claude

05

SerpAPI

@serpapi/mcp-server

Real-time Google, Bing, and image search results

06

Slack

@modelcontextprotocol/server-slack

Read channels, send messages, search Slack history

07

Brave Search

@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search

Private web search with no tracking

08

Puppeteer

@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer

Browser automation — click, screenshot, fill forms

09

Memory

@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory

Persistent key-value memory across Claude sessions

10

Fetch

@modelcontextprotocol/server-fetch

Fetch any URL and return content as markdown

Troubleshooting Common Issues

Server not showing up
Restart Claude Code after adding a new MCP server. The server list is loaded on startup.
Authentication errors
Double-check your API key. Most servers require environment variables — never paste keys directly.
Server times out
Some hosted servers have cold start latency. Try again after 5–10 seconds, or switch to the npx local version.
Tool not available
Run /mcp inside Claude Code to see which servers are connected and what tools each exposes.

Deep-Dive Guides

Apify Setup
Connect 20,000+ web scrapers to Claude via MCP
SerpAPI Setup
Add real-time search results to every Claude session

Get Pre-Configured MCP Setups

The AI Starter Package includes MCP configuration for GitHub, Apify, SerpAPI, and more — with tokens, environment variables, and settings.json pre-wired.

Get the Package