Adding Your First MCP Server with claude mcp add

The command that connects a server is claude mcp add. Once you learn its shape, every server you add follows the same pattern.

The basic shape

You give the server a name, pick a transport, and tell Claude Code how to reach it. For a local server that runs as a process, you pass the command to launch after a -- separator:

claude mcp add --transport stdio airtable --env AIRTABLE_API_KEY=KEY -- npx -y airtable-mcp-server

Here airtable is the name you choose, stdio is the transport, --env passes an environment variable into the server process, and everything after -- is the command that starts it.

Adding a remote server

A hosted server is even simpler. You give it a name and a URL:

claude mcp add --transport http notion https://mcp.notion.com/mcp

No command is needed because the server already runs somewhere else. You just point Claude Code at its endpoint.

The name matters

The name you pick is how you refer to the server later. You use it to inspect the server with claude mcp get airtable, to remove it with claude mcp remove airtable, and it shows up in /mcp inside a session. Choose something short and clear.

Check it worked

After adding a server, run claude mcp list to confirm it's registered, then start Claude Code and type /mcp to see its connection status. If the tools show up, you're ready to ask Claude to use them. The next articles cover the choices you just made in more depth: transports, scopes, and passing secrets safely.