Claude Desktop × ContextForge¶

Claude Desktop launches local stdio processes for MCP servers. FastMCP's fastmcp-remote bridges one of those processes to your Gateway's Streamable HTTP endpoint, giving Claude every tool, prompt and resource registered in the Gateway.

📂 Where to edit the config¶

⚙️ Minimal JSON block¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "contextforge": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "fastmcp-remote",
        "http://localhost:4444/servers/UUID_OF_SERVER_1/mcp/",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_JWT_TOKEN>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Use the real server ID from the Admin UI instead of UUID_OF_SERVER_1, and paste your bearer token.

claude_desktop_config.json launches subprocess servers via command / args and cannot dial an HTTP endpoint itself — fastmcp-remote speaks stdio to Claude and Streamable HTTP to the Gateway. Passing --header "Authorization: ..." selects bearer mode; use --auth none instead when the Gateway requires no authentication.

Restart Claude Desktop after editing the file.

🔑 Generate a token¶

python3 -m mcpgateway.utils.create_jwt_token \
    --username admin@example.com --exp 10080 --secret my-test-key-but-now-longer-than-32-bytes

The --secret value must match the Gateway's JWT_SECRET_KEY, otherwise the Gateway rejects the token. Paste the result into the Authorization: Bearer ... argument above.

🧪 Smoke-test inside Claude¶

1. Click the "Add files, connectors, and more /" indicator at the bottom-left of the message box.
2. Hover Connectors — your Gateway server should be listed.
3. Type:

#get_system_time { "timezone": "Europe/Dublin" }

If tools don't appear, re-open Settings ▸ Connectors, select the server, and check which tools are enabled under its permissions.