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MCP Server Setup Guide for Claude Flow

🎯 Overview

Claude Flow integrates with Claude Code through MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. This guide explains how to set up MCP servers correctly.

📋 Two Ways to Initialize

1. Automatic Setup (Recommended)

# This command automatically adds MCP servers
npx claude-flow@alpha init --force

What it does:

  • Creates project files (CLAUDE.md, settings.json, etc.)
  • Automatically runs: claude mcp add claude-flow npx claude-flow@alpha mcp start
  • Sets up ruv-swarm and flow-nexus MCP servers (optional)
  • Configures hooks and permissions

2. Manual Setup

If you already have Claude Code installed but need to add MCP servers:

# Add Claude Flow MCP server
claude mcp add claude-flow npx claude-flow@alpha mcp start

# Optional: Add enhanced coordination
claude mcp add ruv-swarm npx ruv-swarm mcp start

# Optional: Add cloud features
claude mcp add flow-nexus npx flow-nexus@latest mcp start

✅ Verify Setup

Check that MCP servers are running:

claude mcp list

Expected output:

claude-flow: npx claude-flow@alpha mcp start - ✓ Connected
ruv-swarm: npx ruv-swarm mcp start - ✓ Connected
flow-nexus: npx flow-nexus@latest mcp start - ✓ Connected

🔧 Troubleshooting

Issue: MCP server shows local path instead of npx

Example:

claude-flow: /workspaces/claude-code-flow/bin/claude-flow mcp start - ✓ Connected

Solution: This happens when you're working in the claude-flow repository itself. It's actually fine for development! The MCP server will work correctly.

If you want to use the npx command instead:

# Remove the existing server
claude mcp remove claude-flow

# Re-add with npx command
claude mcp add claude-flow npx claude-flow@alpha mcp start

Issue: "claude: command not found"

Solution: Install Claude Code first:

npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

Issue: MCP server fails to connect

Causes and Solutions:

  1. Package not installed globally:

    # Install the package
npm install -g claude-flow@alpha

  2. Using local development version:

    # In the claude-flow repo, build first
npm run build

  3. Permission issues:

    # Use --dangerously-skip-permissions for testing
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions

📚 Understanding the Commands

npx claude-flow@alpha init

  • Initializes Claude Flow project files
  • Automatically calls claude mcp add for you
  • Only needs to be run once per project

claude init

  • Claude Code's own initialization
  • Does NOT automatically add Claude Flow MCP servers
  • Separate from Claude Flow initialization

claude mcp add <name> <command>

  • Adds an MCP server to Claude Code's global config
  • Persists across projects
  • Located in ~/.config/claude/

🎯 Recommended Workflow

# 1. Install Claude Code (one-time)
npm install -g @anthropic-ai/claude-code

# 2. Initialize your project with Claude Flow (per project)
cd your-project
npx claude-flow@alpha init --force

# 3. Verify MCP servers are connected
claude mcp list

# 4. Start using Claude Code with MCP tools
claude

💡 Key Points

  • npx claude-flow@alpha init does BOTH file setup AND MCP configuration
  • claude init is just for Claude Code, not Claude Flow
  • MCP servers are global (affect all Claude Code sessions)
  • Project files (.claude/, CLAUDE.md) are local to each project

🔗 Related Documentation

Questions? See GitHub Issues or join our Discord