ToolUniverse MCP Integration with Claude Desktop App

This tutorial will Tutorial you through setting up ToolUniverse as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server for Claude Desktop App.

Example Integration

For a practical example of using ToolUniverse-MCP with Claude, see the following shared chat log:

Claude MCP Integration Example

Prerequisites

  • Claude Desktop App installed on your system

  • ToolUniverse>=0.2.0 installed

  • UV package manager installed

Configuration Steps

1. Locate Claude Desktop Configuration

To access the configuration file, open the Claude Desktop App and navigate to Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This will allow you to directly edit Claude configuration file.

2. Add ToolUniverse MCP Server

Open the configuration file and add the ToolUniverse MCP server configuration:

{
    "mcpServers": {
      "tooluniverse": {
        "command": "uv",
        "args": [
            "--directory",
            "/path/to/tooluniverse-env",  # Working directory: uv manages .venv here
            "run",
            "tooluniverse-smcp-stdio"
        ]
      }
    }
}

Important Configuration Notes:

  • Replace /path/to/tooluniverse-env with your actual ToolUniverse working directory

  • The working directory is where uv will create and manage the virtual environment (.venv)

  • Install ToolUniverse first: mkdir -p /path/to/tooluniverse-env && uv --directory /path/to/tooluniverse-env pip install tooluniverse

  • Use absolute paths for better reliability

3. Configuration Explanation

  • mcpServers: The main container for all MCP server configurations

  • tooluniverse: The name identifier for your ToolUniverse MCP server

  • command: Uses uv package manager to run the MCP server

  • args: Command line arguments passed to uv:

    • --directory: Specifies the working directory where uv manages the virtual environment (.venv)

    • run: Tells uv to run a command

    • tooluniverse-smcp-stdio: The specific MCP command to execute

4. Restart Claude Desktop

After saving the configuration file, completely quit and restart the Claude Desktop App to load the new MCP server configuration.

5. Verify Integration

Once Claude Desktop restarts, you should be able to access ToolUniverse tools and capabilities through the MCP integration. The tools will be available in your conversations with Claude.

Troubleshooting

Too Many Tools Loaded: If you enable too many tools in ToolUniverse, Claude may exceed its context window limit, which can cause errors. To avoid this, only enable a subset of essential tools in your Claude.