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Claude Desktop Setup Guide

Complete guide to integrating Bootspring with Claude Desktop using MCP (Model Context Protocol).

Overview#

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's official desktop application for Claude. Bootspring integrates via MCP to provide:

  • Project Context - Claude understands your codebase
  • Expert Agents - Access 35+ specialized AI agents
  • Skill Patterns - Apply production-ready patterns
  • Workflows - Multi-phase development orchestration

Prerequisites#

  • Claude Desktop installed
  • Bootspring CLI installed (npm install -g bootspring)
  • Node.js 18+ installed
  • Bootspring account (free tier works)

Installing Claude Desktop#

macOS#

  1. Download from claude.ai/download
  2. Open the .dmg file
  3. Drag Claude to Applications
  4. Launch Claude Desktop
  5. Sign in with your Anthropic account

Windows#

  1. Download from claude.ai/download
  2. Run the installer
  3. Follow installation prompts
  4. Launch Claude Desktop
  5. Sign in with your Anthropic account

Linux#

AppImage:

wget https://claude.ai/download/linux -O claude-desktop.AppImage chmod +x claude-desktop.AppImage ./claude-desktop.AppImage

Snap (when available):

snap install claude-desktop

MCP Server Setup#

Automatic Installation#

The easiest way to configure Bootspring MCP:

bootspring mcp install

This command:

  1. Locates Claude Desktop config
  2. Adds Bootspring MCP server entry
  3. Configures API key
  4. Verifies connection

Verify Installation#

bootspring mcp status

Expected output:

MCP Server Status ================= Server: bootspring Status: Configured ✓ Config: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Connection test: Success ✓ Available tools: 12 Available resources: 3 Tools: ✓ bootspring_context ✓ bootspring_agent ✓ bootspring_skill ✓ bootspring_workflow ...

Manual Configuration#

If automatic setup fails, configure manually.

macOS: Edit ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

Windows: Edit %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json:

Linux: Edit ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "npx", 5 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"], 6 "env": { 7 "BOOTSPRING_API_KEY": "bs_live_your-api-key" 8 } 9 } 10 } 11}

Restart Claude Desktop#

After configuration, restart Claude Desktop:

  1. Quit Claude Desktop completely
  2. Relaunch the application
  3. Check for "bootspring" in the tools menu

Available MCP Tools#

bootspring_context#

Get project context and understanding.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_context to understand the project structure.

Returns:

  • Project overview
  • Tech stack
  • Architecture summary
  • Key files and patterns

bootspring_agent#

Invoke expert agents for specialized tasks.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_agent to invoke the security-expert and review the authentication flow.

Available agents:

  • frontend-expert
  • backend-expert
  • database-expert
  • security-expert
  • performance-expert
  • testing-expert
  • And 30+ more

bootspring_skill#

Apply skill patterns to generate code.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_skill to apply the api-endpoint pattern for a user registration endpoint.

Available patterns:

  • patterns/api-endpoint
  • patterns/react-component
  • patterns/prisma-crud
  • patterns/auth-clerk
  • And 50+ more

bootspring_workflow#

Start and manage development workflows.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_workflow to start the feature-development workflow for implementing user notifications.

Available workflows:

  • preseed - Idea to documentation
  • seed - Project scaffolding
  • feature-development - Full feature lifecycle
  • security-audit - Security review
  • And more

bootspring_generate#

Regenerate project context.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_generate to update the project context after recent changes.

bootspring_quality#

Run quality checks.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_quality with the pre-commit preset to check code quality.

bootspring_todo#

Manage project todos and tasks.

Usage in Claude:

Use bootspring_todo to add "Implement error handling" to the task list.

MCP Resources#

project://context#

Access current project context.

Usage:

Read the project://context resource to understand the codebase.

project://config#

Access Bootspring configuration.

Usage:

Read project://config to see available agents and settings.

project://agents#

List available agents and their capabilities.

Usage:

Read project://agents to see which experts I can invoke.

Using Bootspring in Claude#

Basic Workflow#

  1. Start a conversation about your project
  2. Request context: "Use bootspring_context to understand my project"
  3. Get help: "Use bootspring_agent to invoke the frontend-expert for this component"
  4. Apply patterns: "Use bootspring_skill to apply the form-validation pattern"

Example Conversations#

Understanding the codebase:

User: I'm working on a Next.js project. Help me understand the architecture. Claude: I'll use the project context to understand your codebase. [Uses bootspring_context] Based on the context, your project is a Next.js 14 application with: - App Router architecture - Prisma for database (PostgreSQL) - Clerk for authentication - Tailwind CSS for styling The main routes are...

Getting expert help:

User: I need to optimize my database queries. They're getting slow. Claude: Let me invoke the database expert to analyze this. [Uses bootspring_agent: database-expert] The database expert recommends: 1. Add indexes on frequently queried columns 2. Use connection pooling 3. Implement query result caching ...

Applying patterns:

User: Create a new API endpoint for user preferences. Claude: I'll apply the API endpoint pattern for this. [Uses bootspring_skill: patterns/api-endpoint] Here's the endpoint following your project's patterns: [Generated code]

Configuration Options#

API Key Management#

Environment variable (recommended for CI):

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "npx", 5 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"], 6 "env": { 7 "BOOTSPRING_API_KEY": "${BOOTSPRING_API_KEY}" 8 } 9 } 10 } 11}

Direct key (for personal use):

{ "env": { "BOOTSPRING_API_KEY": "bs_live_xxx" } }

Custom Node Path#

If Node.js isn't in the default path:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "/usr/local/bin/node", 5 "args": ["/usr/local/bin/npx", "-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"] 6 } 7 } 8}

nvm Users#

For nvm installations:

macOS/Linux:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "/bin/bash", 5 "args": [ 6 "-c", 7 "source ~/.nvm/nvm.sh && npx -y bootspring mcp serve" 8 ], 9 "env": { 10 "BOOTSPRING_API_KEY": "bs_live_xxx" 11 } 12 } 13 } 14}

Project-Specific Configuration#

For project-specific settings:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "npx", 5 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"], 6 "env": { 7 "BOOTSPRING_API_KEY": "bs_live_xxx", 8 "BOOTSPRING_PROJECT_ROOT": "/path/to/project" 9 } 10 } 11 } 12}

Multiple Projects#

Project Switching#

Claude Desktop uses the current working directory. To switch projects:

  1. Open a new conversation
  2. Ask Claude to read context from a specific directory

Or configure multiple servers:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring-frontend": { 4 "command": "npx", 5 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"], 6 "env": { 7 "BOOTSPRING_PROJECT_ROOT": "/projects/frontend" 8 } 9 }, 10 "bootspring-backend": { 11 "command": "npx", 12 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve"], 13 "env": { 14 "BOOTSPRING_PROJECT_ROOT": "/projects/backend" 15 } 16 } 17 } 18}

Troubleshooting#

MCP Server Not Appearing#

  1. Check configuration file exists

    1# macOS 2cat ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json 3 4# Windows 5type %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json 6 7# Linux 8cat ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

  2. Validate JSON syntax

    bootspring mcp validate

  3. Restart Claude Desktop completely

  4. Check logs

    • macOS: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/
    • Windows: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\logs\
    • Linux: ~/.local/share/Claude/logs/

Connection Errors#

# Test MCP server directly bootspring mcp serve --debug # Check network bootspring mcp test

Tool Invocation Failures#

  1. Check API key

    bootspring status

  2. Verify project initialization

    cd your-project bootspring init --check

  3. Test tool manually

    bootspring agent invoke frontend-expert "test"

Permission Errors#

macOS:

# Check file permissions ls -la ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/

Linux:

chmod 600 ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Node.js Not Found#

# Find node path which node which npx # Update config with full path

Security Best Practices#

API Key Protection#

  1. Never commit API keys to version control
  2. Use environment variables for CI/CD
  3. Rotate keys regularly via dashboard
  4. Use read-only keys when possible

Permission Scopes#

Configure minimal permissions:

{ "env": { "BOOTSPRING_SCOPES": "read,context,agents" } }

Network Security#

MCP communicates locally. For remote setups:

  • Use SSH tunneling
  • Enable TLS
  • Configure firewall rules

Advanced Configuration#

Custom MCP Server#

Run your own MCP server:

bootspring mcp serve --port 8080 --host localhost

Debug Mode#

Enable verbose logging:

1{ 2 "mcpServers": { 3 "bootspring": { 4 "command": "npx", 5 "args": ["-y", "bootspring", "mcp", "serve", "--debug"], 6 "env": { 7 "DEBUG": "bootspring:*" 8 } 9 } 10 } 11}

Health Checks#

Monitor MCP server health:

bootspring mcp health

Uninstalling#

Remove MCP Configuration#

bootspring mcp uninstall

Or manually edit the config file and remove the bootspring entry.

Verify Removal#

  1. Restart Claude Desktop
  2. Verify "bootspring" no longer appears in tools

Next Steps#