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MCP Client Config Generator

One input, four ready-to-paste configs — Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf. Including the VS Code schema difference that breaks most installs.

4 CLIENTS

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Server name (used as the config key)

Transport

Local servers are launched by the client, so command and args matter.

Launch command

Arguments (one per line)

Each line becomes one array element — no quoting needed.

Environment variables (KEY=value, one per line)

Optional. Prefer the client’s own secret store where it has one.

LOCAL (STDIO)freetoolhub · 4 configs

Claude Desktop

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json (macOS) · %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json (Windows)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freetoolhub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://freetoolhub.org/api/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Read only at launch — restart the app after editing.

Cursor

~/.cursor/mcp.json (global) or .cursor/mcp.json (project)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freetoolhub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://freetoolhub.org/api/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Project-level config overrides the global one and can be committed for the team.

VS CodeDIFFERENT SCHEMA

.vscode/mcp.json (workspace)

{
  "servers": {
    "freetoolhub": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://freetoolhub.org/api/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Uses "servers" with an explicit "type" — not "mcpServers". The single most common install failure.

Windsurf

~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "freetoolhub": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://freetoolhub.org/api/mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Same shape as Claude Desktop.

Client	Top-level key	Transport field	Config file
Claude Desktop	mcpServers	inferred	claude_desktop_config.json
Cursor	mcpServers	inferred	mcp.json
VS Code	servers	"type" required	.vscode/mcp.json
Windsurf	mcpServers	inferred	mcp_config.json

Data Source & Legal Disclaimer

Effective: Config paths and schemas reviewed 2026-09

Sources: Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code and Windsurf MCP documentation (config paths and schemas)

Client config formats change between releases. If a config is rejected, check the client's own documentation for the current schema before assuming the generator is wrong. Env values you type here are rendered into the output verbatim — do not paste real secrets into a page you do not control.

See all data sources & update policy →

How it worksPage 2

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The four clients do not share one config format — and that is the whole problem

MCP is a protocol, not a config standard. Every client picks its own file location, and most use a top-level mcpServers object — but VS Code does not. VS Code expects servers with an explicit type field ("stdio" or "http"), so pasting a working Claude Desktop config into .vscode/mcp.json fails with no useful error. It is the single most common reason a server that “works for everyone else” will not install for one person. The second-most-common: forgetting that Claude Desktop reads its config only at launch, so edits appear to do nothing until a restart. This page emits all four formats from one input, so you can stop hand-translating between them.

One server definition, four client schemas

Claude Desktop, Cursor and Windsurf all wrap the entry in mcpServers. VS Code instead uses servers with an explicit transport type — a different shape, not just a different filename.

Why the same server installs for three people and not the fourth

A team shares a working Claude Desktop config for a local stdio server. Three of them paste it into Cursor and Windsurf and it works. The fourth pastes the same JSON into .vscode/mcp.json.

Claude / Cursor / Windsurf:Top-level "mcpServers" — the pasted config is accepted
VS Code:Expects "servers" with an explicit "type": "stdio" — "mcpServers" is ignored
Symptom:No error, no server. The tools simply never appear
Fix:Emit the VS Code variant: {"servers": {"name": {"type": "stdio", "command": …, "args": […]}}}

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MCP Client Config Generator

The four clients do not share one config format — and that is the whole problem

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