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Unleashing the Power of Claude with the mCP Update
Are you excited about the future of AI agents? Well, buckle up, because I’m about to walk you through an incredible update that makes building AI agents with Claude (CLA) a walk in the park! Thanks to Anthropic’s latest release—the mCP (Model Context Protocol) update—you can now create powerful AI apps faster and more easily than ever before. Let’s dive in and discover how you can harness this technology to automate your tasks and level up your productivity!
What is mCP and Why Does It Matter?
Before we jump into the “how-to,” let’s break down what mCP is and why it’s a game-changer. The mCP stands for Model Context Protocol, which is Anthropic’s way of allowing CLA to interact with external tools and applications effortlessly. In simpler terms, it’s like giving your AI a toolkit so it can connect with various data sources and services, making it way easier to build AI apps that can do real tasks.
Previously, if you wanted to create an AI agent, linking it to your data was a significant hurdle. But with the mCP update, that problem is a thing of the past! Imagine having a team of AI agents ready to help you out—sounds like the future, right? Well, it’s closer than you think.
Step-by-Step Guide to Setting Up Claude with mCP
Let’s get down to business! Follow these instructions, and soon you’ll have your very own AI agent that can help you with various tasks, all with just one prompt. Seriously, if you stick with me, you’ll be part of an elite group that knows how to leverage AI effectively!
Step 1: Download Claude Desktop
First things first, you need to grab Claude Desktop. Depending on your operating system, head over to the Claude Download Page and choose the appropriate download for Mac or Windows. Once it’s downloaded, follow these steps:
- Open the installer and drag Claude into your Applications folder.
- Navigate to your Applications folder and double-click on Claude to open it.
If it’s your first time, you’ll need to log in. Don’t have an account yet? Seriously, sign up—it takes less than a minute!
Step 2: Create Your Configuration File
This step may intimidate some, but hang tight! You’re about to learn how to set up Claude to use mCP. Here’s what you need to do:
- Open your terminal (or Command Prompt if you’re on Windows).
Run this command to open a folder where you’ll create a new config file:
- For Mac:
open .
- For Mac:
Create a new file named
claude-desktop-config.js
by entering this command:touch claude-desktop-config.js
(This command creates a new file where you’ll input the configuration necessary to connect Claude to mCP tools.)
- Open the file in your favorite code editor (like VS Code or Notepad) by typing:
nano claude-desktop-config.js
or use whatever method you prefer to open files.
Step 3: Integrate Brave Search API

Now, you’ve got Claude set up, but it still needs some tools to really function well. Here’s where the Brave Search API comes in. This API will allow Claude to search the web for you.
- Visit the Brave Search API page and sign up for their free tier. It’s super simple!
- You’ll need to generate an API key. Just find the option to “Add API Key,” name it something recognizable, and copy the token.
Step 4: Add the API Token to Your Configuration
After you have the API key, you need to insert it into your claude-desktop-config.js
file. Here’s how:
- Within the configuration file you opened earlier, paste the JSON format that you’ll need to set for Brave, replacing
YOUR_API_KEY
with the actual token:
{
"mCP": {
"brave-search": {
"apiKey": "YOUR_API_KEY"
}
}
}
- Save the file (with Command + S on Mac or Control + S on Windows) and restart Claude Desktop to recognize the changes.
Step 5: Testing the Setup
You’ve done a lot of work—now let’s see if it paid off! Open Claude and ask it to look something up. For example, “What are today’s news articles about Bitcoin?” This time Claude should respond with relevant info from its internet search capabilities via the Brave Search API.
Step 6: Adding GitHub Functionality
Next, we’re going to allow Claude to interact with GitHub. This feature takes the productivity potential to a whole new level. You will need to repeat the previous steps—generate a GitHub personal access token.
- Go to GitHub.com and create a new token by navigating to settings. Add necessary repo permissions.
- Insert your GitHub token into the config file like you did for the Brave API.
{
"mCP": {
"github": {
"apiKey": "YOUR_GITHUB_TOKEN"
}
}
}
- Restart Claude Desktop one more time.
Step 7: Put It All Together with One Prompt
Finally, it’s time to test the full power of your Claude agent. Here’s a sample prompt that combines tasks you might typically rely on a programmer to complete:
“Please create a simple HTML page, push it to the new repository on GitHub, and create an issue suggesting more content.”
Watch as Claude works its magic, interacting with both Brave and GitHub to fulfill your request!
The Future is Here: Embrace AI!
The mCP update makes it possible for anyone, regardless of programming skills, to create sophisticated AI agents. Whether you’re managing projects, automating repetitive tasks, or simply looking to boost your productivity, Claude now acts as your personal assistant on steroids!
Imagine this: Instead of drowning in your to-do list, you can delegate tasks to your AI agents, freeing up precious time to focus on what truly matters.
Fast forward a couple of years, and the landscape of work will likely consist of human professionals collaborating with AI agents to accomplish tasks faster and more efficiently.
So, lace-up your shoes, dive into the mCP world, and become part of the AI revolution. Don’t be the one left behind—start building now!
By embracing these new capabilities, you’re not just keeping pace with technology; you’re setting yourself up to be a trailblazer in an ever-evolving landscape. The future looks bright, and it’s brimming with potential for those willing to harness it. Go out there and conquer!

💻 DEVELOPERS, I'M HIRING! Apply here: https://forms.gle/Y8yNSpCapcDPuTXt6
💼 Wanna start a business with AI Agents? Go here: https://www.skool.com/new-society
🚀 Get early access to David's startup: https://forms.gle/SpuEYSeh48wavJQYA
If on Linux within Cline inside VScode can you still operate the MCP servers without the desktop interface?
Claude 3.5 Sonnet, even on the paid plan, set limitations. I signed up and now have to wait several hours because my one message reached the limit for Claude 3.5 Sonnet!
I don't understand why even on a paid account there are any such limitation. This is authorized robbery!
Do you have the same limitation with your system on the Claude Desktop?
Hm, getting error messages despite following step by step. Not sure what I missed.
Error: Failed to start MCP server: Error in MCP connection to server brave-seratch: Error: spawn docker ENOENT
Would love any guidance. I followed everything to the letter.
You talk to FAST for us beginner coders. Can you slow it down a bit?
Is there an alternative to Claude for this workflow? Doesn't seem like ChatGPT or Deepseek easily has this integration.
Claude was straightforward, but now it's going to need another monthly sub.
For MacOS, if you have error: "Failed to start MCP server: Could not start MCP server brave-search: Error: spawn docker ENOENT", check if docker is running. If you don't have docker running, install Docker desktop, start docker and restart Claude.
Hey David Ondrej,
Dhruva Harapanahalli here,
Please delete your api key just incase you have not deleted. 🙂
Your video was helpful thankyou so much!
Application Support/Claude does not exist for me, how are people finding this?? 🥲
Does it read and understand the exisitng github repo, architecture we used, design pattern we used? and then can we provide the prompt to do bug fixing?
Brilliant. Will this work on a limited free plan?
did exact same thing as you, in macOS, just gives me errors saying Failed to start mcp server Error: spawn npx ENOENT, any help on this please ?
Not having any luck with the Brave MCP. I've rewatched and made sure I followed step by step. I also installed Docker and made sure the engine was running. But I still don't see the MCP option. any thoughts?
Can you have this use a local-hosted LLM, or is it hard coded to use the paid online version?
Im getting an error code when running (sudo apt install xdg-utils # version 1.1.3-4.1ubuntu3~22.04.1) Says, Errors were encountered while processing:
postfix
E: Sub-process /usr/bin/dpkg returned an error code (1)
Great video man!
more MCP tutorial, please
I am a tech recruiter, I needed to rewatch like 3 times to try to understand. Ill get there but David, thanks for sharing. I just subscribed.
is anyone able to hop on a call with ,me and help me set this up?
Tron fans: Nah, we know damn well MCP = Master Control Program.
That shit about being top 5% of AI users makes me never want to subscribe
This Claude update is an absolute game-changer for anyone looking to 10x their productivity. Here's why you need to pay attention:
2:00 Single prompt = Full stack developer capabilities. Claude can now build entire websites, manage GitHub repos, and handle multiple dev tasks autonomously 🤯
14:54 Real talk: You can compress 8 hours of basic dev work into 2-3 hours by letting AI agents handle the repetitive tasks. Perfect for founders trying to move fast
16:45 Major insight: There will be two types of people – those who leverage AI agents and those who get left behind. The gap will be massive
Honestly, this is probably the biggest opportunity since crypto in 2020 for builders who want to get ahead. The 30-min setup is worth it.
Who else is building with AI agents? Drop your use cases below 👇
Couldn't get this to work – shame! Claude desktop shows errors – fails to start MCP servers – Error: spawn npx ENOENT
No Linux version for Claud Desktop 🙁
Haha. David is so excited that he can barely contain himself. I love it.
Thank you for sharing! See you in new society soon!
Ondrej please make a windows version of this video for us. Please!
im getting this message after putting in the api key?? Im not sure why.
There was an error reading or parsing claude_desktop_config.json: SyntaxError: Unexpected end of JSON input
For MacOS, if you have error: "Failed to start MCP server: Could not start MCP server brave-search: Error: spawn docker ENOENT", check if docker is running. If you don't have docker running, install Docker desktop, start docker and restart Claude.
Wasn’t this available already with customGPT?
thank you ! for this little tutorial – it helped me setup Claude locally – though I think the github permissions seem to create issues for me. but for that I need to take care myself.
I hate to say but what I see the vectal app is not free at all in less I’m missing something
This is 🤯🤯🤯 I've not properly coded for maybe 20 years, and then I was rubbish at it. This is incredible and Claude is by far the best coding LLM I've used. Simply amazing. Thanks!
Great tutorial! Thanks for this one!
rip to those who get the base search api plan and get their search api call stuck in an infinite loop…. $60,000?? hahahaha
For windows users getting the "could not attach to mcp server brave-search" error:
You need to add a specific path to appData. This config file did the trick for me:
{
"mcpServers": {
"brave-search": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"@modelcontextprotocol/server-brave-search"
],
"env": {
"BRAVE_API_KEY": "xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx",
"APPDATA": "C:\Users\mathi\AppData\Roaming"
}
}
}
}
if you're on macos and it doesn't work right away, ask claude to troubleshoot it 🙂 in my case it turned out that it needed the full path to npx (which in its turn required node.js installed which in its turned required xcode and so on). after a couple of hours of installs and some version compatibility issues with the older macos, it works!
Very cool
Love the video! One thing you might want to mention – you need to have docker installed for the agents to work. I'm sure most people do, but just in case…
worst tutorial ever
Either I missed it or he forgot to tell us that we need to be running DOCKER for this to work 😉
I have no money to join new-society
I think this is gonna be bigger than all the GPTs hype. Claude MCP is killing it
Great great video! Had some problems setting up the environment but after that it is working like a charm
This is exceptionally good stuff buddy. Keep up the good work!