Switch MCP Servers in Claude Desktop

Claude MCP Switch is an open-source native macOS menu bar app that lets you enable, disable, and edit MCP servers configured in Claude Desktop — without touching the JSON config file.

Why Use It

Claude Desktop stores all MCP server configuration in a JSON file (claude_desktop_config.json). Every time you want to swap servers, toggle one off for a session, add environment variables, or test a new server alongside existing ones — you have to open that file, find the right entry, edit it by hand, save, and restart Claude Desktop.

The “Claude MCP Switch” app replaces that manual JSON editing with a menu bar UI. Enable or disable servers in one click, edit details in a form, and sync back to Claude Desktop.

Features

Enable or disable individual MCP servers from the macOS menu bar
Import your existing claude_desktop_config.json entries
Edit server names, commands, arguments, and environment variables
Preview a diff before syncing changes back to Claude Desktop
Automatic backups before any write operation

Screenshots

MCP Server Manager

MCP Server Manager window

Edit a Server

Edit server form

Installation

Homebrew (recommended)

brew tap inspectr-hq/homebrew-inspectr
brew install --cask claude-mcp-switch

DMG or ZIP

Download the latest release from GitHub Releases, open the DMG, and drag the app to /Applications.

Build from source

Requires Swift 5.10+ and Xcode or SwiftPM:

git clone https://github.com/inspectr-hq/claude-mcp-switch
cd claude-mcp-switch
swift build -c release

Basic Usage

Launch Claude MCP Switch from your Applications folder — it appears in the macOS menu bar.
Select Import from Claude Desktop to load your existing MCP server entries.
Toggle servers on or off directly from the menu or open the manager window to edit details.
When ready, select Sync to Claude Desktop — a diff preview shows exactly what will change before anything is written.

The sync preserves all other Claude Desktop settings and treats your enabled servers as the source of truth.

Using It with Inspectr

When you expose a local MCP server with Inspectr, you need to register the Inspectr session URL in Claude Desktop. Claude MCP Switch makes that step faster:

1. Start your MCP server and run Inspectr to expose it:

inspectr --backend=http://localhost:3001 --expose --channel=mcp-demo

2. Open Claude MCP Switch and add a new server entry pointing at the Inspectr URL via mcp-remote:

Field	Value
Command	`npx`
Args	`mcp-remote https://mcp-demo.in-spectr.dev/mcp`

3. Sync to Claude Desktop and restart Claude (Cmd+R).

No manual JSON editing required. If you want to switch between multiple Inspectr sessions or test different MCP servers, Claude MCP Switch lets you toggle them individually rather than rewriting the config each time.

Want to expose a local MCP server to Claude Desktop?

Exposing a MCP Server →

View the source, report issues, or download the latest release:

Claude MCP Switch on GitHub →