Supercharge Your Claude Desktop Experience: How MCP Servers Create a Claude Code-Like Environment

5 min readFeb 27, 2025

Photo by Desola Lanre-Ologun on Unsplash

Claude has established itself as a powerful and versatile large language model in the rapidly evolving landscape of AI assistants. While many users are familiar with the recently released Claude Code terminal tool, fewer know that you can create a similar experience directly in Claude Desktop by leveraging Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.

What is the Model Context Protocol?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard developed by Anthropic that enables AI assistants to connect with external tools and data sources. It establishes a universal way for large language models to interact with various systems — from browsers and local files to Git repositories and note-taking apps.

Think of MCP as a “USB-C port for AI” — a standardized interface that lets Claude communicate with a wide range of services and applications.

Building a Claude Code-Like Experience in Claude Desktop

Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic command-line tool that lets developers delegate coding tasks to Claude directly from the terminal. But what if you could have similar capabilities right in the Claude Desktop application?

By connecting Claude Desktop to the right combination of MCP servers, you can create an environment where Claude can communicate with tools that:

Write and execute code
Access and manipulate files
Interact with browsers
Manage Git repositories
Store information in Obsidian as persistent memory

Let’s explore the key MCP servers that make this possible.

The Essential MCP Servers

1. Browser Automation with Browserbase

Browserbase MCP Server gives Claude the ability to communicate with a web browser. This means Claude can request:

Navigation to websites to extract information
Screenshots of pages
Form filling and button clicking
JavaScript execution in the browser
Console log monitoring

This server is particularly powerful for web automation tasks, data extraction, and testing web applications.

2. Command Execution with MCP Server Commands

The MCP Server Commands repository provides a bridge between Claude and terminal commands. This allows Claude to:

Request shell commands like ls, hostname, etc.
Initiate script execution in languages like Python, Bash, and more
Suggest code and have it run to see the results

This server represents the core of what makes Claude Code useful — the ability to write code and have it executed through Claude’s suggestions.

3. Git and GitHub Integration

For developers, the Git and GitHub MCP servers are invaluable:

Git MCP Server provides local Git repository operations
GitHub MCP Server connects to the GitHub API

Together, these servers let Claude request:

Repository status checks and diff views
Branch creation and switching
Commit operations
Issue and pull request creation
Code searches across repositories
Pushing changes to GitHub

This integration makes Claude a powerful assistant for version control workflows.

4. Filesystem Access

The Filesystem MCP Server gives Claude the ability to request filesystem operations. This means Claude can ask to:

Read from and write to files
Create and navigate directories
Move and rename files
Search for specific files
Get file metadata

This capability is essential for Claude to understand your project structure and suggest file manipulations as needed.

5. Obsidian Integration for Memory

Perhaps one of the most interesting servers is the Obsidian MCP Server, which connects Claude to the popular note-taking application. This gives Claude a form of persistent memory access, allowing it to:

Browse your knowledge base
Retrieve information from past notes
Save important context for future reference
Search across your entire vault
Update existing notes with new information

This integration creates a powerful knowledge management system where Claude can access and help maintain your knowledge base.

Setting Up Your MCP Servers

Setting up these MCP servers involves a few steps:

Install Claude Desktop
Clone the repositories for the MCP servers you want to use
Configure each server according to its documentation
Edit your claude_desktop_config.json file to include the servers

For example, to add the Git MCP server, you would add this to your configuration:

"mcpServers": {
  "git": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": ["mcp-server-git", "--repository", "path/to/git/repo"]
  }
}

Each server has its configuration requirements, but the basic pattern is similar. Some servers may require API keys or other credentials.

Real-World Applications

This enhanced Claude Desktop setup opens up a world of possibilities:

Development Workflows

Ask Claude to help you build a web application. It can suggest:

Initial project structure
Code in multiple languages
Commands to execute the code for testing
Git repository creation and commit operations
GitHub project setup with issues and PRs

Research and Data Analysis

Use Claude for complex research tasks:

Web browsing requests to gather information
Data downloading and parsing from various sources
Analysis scripts
Information storage in your Obsidian vault for later reference

Learning and Exploration

Claude becomes an interactive tutor:

Ask Claude to explain a programming concept
Have it suggest an example code
Request modifications to explore different scenarios
Save explanations to Obsidian for future review

Limitations and Considerations

While this setup is powerful, there are some important considerations:

Security: Be careful what access you grant to MCP servers, as they can execute code and access sensitive data
Reliability: These tools are still evolving and may have bugs or limitations
Configuration: Setting up multiple servers requires technical knowledge
Performance: Running multiple services may impact system performance

Conclusion

By leveraging MCP servers, Claude Desktop can transform from a simple chat interface into a powerful development environment with capabilities similar to Claude Code. This approach gives you the flexibility to customize how Claude interacts with your tools to suit your specific needs while maintaining the familiar chat interface.

The open nature of the Model Context Protocol means that new servers and capabilities are continuously being developed by the community. As more tools become available, Claude’s ability to interact with your digital environment will only grow more powerful.

Whether you’re a developer, researcher, or knowledge worker, this enhanced Claude setup can significantly boost your productivity and unlock new ways of working with AI assistants.

Have you experimented with MCP servers in Claude Desktop? What custom integrations would you like to see? Share your experiences and ideas in the comments!

For more information about MCP and available servers, visit the Model Context Protocol website.