Claude Desktop¶

Building AI Scientists with Claude Desktop App and ToolUniverse

Overview¶

Claude Desktop Integration enables seamless connection between Claude Desktop App and ToolUniverse’s scientific tools ecosystem through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). This approach provides a user-friendly interface for scientific research while leveraging Claude’s advanced reasoning capabilities and ToolUniverse’s comprehensive scientific tools.

Prerequisites¶

Before setting up Claude Desktop integration, ensure you have:

Installation and Setup¶

Step 1: Locate Claude Desktop Configuration¶

Open Claude Desktop App and navigate to the configuration:

  1. Open Claude Desktop App

  2. Go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config

  3. Note the configuration file location (typically in your user directory)

The configuration file will be opened in your default text editor.

Step 2: Configure ToolUniverse MCP Server¶

Add the ToolUniverse MCP server configuration to your Claude Desktop config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "tooluniverse": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["tooluniverse"],
      "env": {"PYTHONIOENCODING": "utf-8"}
    }
  }
}

Step 3: Install Agent Skills¶

Install ToolUniverse agent skills for enhanced research capabilities:

npx skills add mims-harvard/ToolUniverse

These skills provide specialized research workflows for drug discovery, target research, disease analysis, and more.

Step 4: Restart Claude Desktop¶

After saving the configuration:

  1. Completely quit Claude Desktop App

  2. Restart Claude Desktop App

  3. Verify the MCP server is loaded (check the developer console if needed)

Step 5: Verify Integration¶

Test the integration by asking Claude to:

  1. List available tools: - “What scientific tools are available?” - “Show me the tools for drug discovery”

  2. Execute a tool: - “Search for information about Alzheimer’s disease” - “Find protein information for BRCA1”

Example Integration¶

For a practical example of using ToolUniverse-MCP with Claude Desktop, see the following demonstration:

Claude Desktop Integration Example

Note

Image Source: This example shows Claude Desktop using ToolUniverse tools for scientific research. To view the full interactive example, visit the Claude MCP Integration Example.

Settings and Configuration¶