Share experience with windows instalation ... help for beginners :)

[vmanzanal]

Pre-submission Checklist

• I have checked that this question would not be more appropriate as an issue in a specific repository
• I have searched existing discussions and documentation for answers

Question Category

• Protocol Specification
• SDK Usage
• Server Implementation
• General Implementation
• Documentation
• Other

Your Question

Setting up MCP SQLite in Claude Desktop - Step by Step Guide

A collaborative debugging journey between Claude and a beginner user 😊

Initial Problem

• Followed the MCP quickstart guide
• Correctly set up database and json configuration
• The wrench icon (🔧) wasn't showing up
• No database connection was established

Solution

1. Critical Step: Enable Developer Mode

   • Open Claude Desktop
   • Go to "Developer" menu
   • Enable "Developer Mode"
   • MCP server starts automatically

2. Correct Configuration

   • File name: claude_desktop_config.json (not config.json)
   • Location: C:\Users\[YOUR_USERNAME]\AppData\Roaming\Claude\
   • Configuration example:

   {
       "mcpServers": {
           "sqlite": {
               "command": "uvx",
               "args": [
                   "mcp-server-sqlite",
                   "--db-path",
                   "C:\\Users\\YOUR_USERNAME\\test.db"
               ]
           }
       }
   }

3. Verification

   • The wrench icon (🔧) appears with 6 options
   • Claude can access the database
   • MCP server starts automatically

Important Notes

• Developer mode is a crucial step that isn't clearly documented
• The exact location and name of the configuration file are important
• No need to manually start the MCP server once developer mode is enabled

This solution was found through collaborative debugging between Claude and a user, demonstrating how AI assistants can help troubleshoot setup issues effectively.

[TimHuey]

Even enabling developer mode would not get the tool UI element to show in the lower right corner of the prompt txtbox. I will try again and see if there has been an update to the app behavior. But it works on my mac-mini m2, just not on my windows

[TimHuey]

Nope, no updates and no changes in behavior. I can get the app to load, I get the server windows to open and spin up the sever. MCP logs show..

2024-12-01T13:36:33.597Z [info] Attempting to connect to MCP server brave-search...
2024-12-01T13:36:33.610Z [info] Connected to MCP server brave-search!

The server terminal windows shows...
Brave Search MCP Server running on stdio

Then about 10 seconds later the Claudeapp shows a popup message in the upper corner

Could not attach to MCP server brave-search

And I can close the brave-search terminal window. It used to be locked and you couldn't close it.

[wiltonn]

I had same issues, wrench icon not showing up. I was using Chocolatey package manager, which seemed to mess things up. removed chocolatey and re-installed dependencies using winget seems to work.

[TimHuey]

Hmmm, no choco here on this windows. I do have winget and have used it and windows store. That's the only package managers I have.

[amira-essawy]

I didn't find the developer mode in Claude desktop and also didn't find claude_desktop_config.json