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Quick Start

Get MCP Hangar running with Claude Desktop in under 30 seconds.

One-Liner Install

curl -sSL https://mcp-hangar.io/install.sh | bash && mcp-hangar init -y && mcp-hangar serve

That's it. Restart Claude Desktop and you have:

  • filesystem - Read and write local files
  • fetch - Make HTTP requests
  • memory - Persistent key-value storage

Prerequisites

  • Python 3.11 or later
  • Claude Desktop installed (download)
  • uvx or npx (for MCP server packages)

Interactive Setup

Prefer a guided experience? Use the wizard:

pip install mcp-hangar
mcp-hangar init

The wizard will:

  1. Detect runtimes - finds uvx, npx, docker in your PATH
  2. Detect Claude Desktop - finds your Claude Desktop config automatically
  3. Select MCP servers - choose which MCP servers to enable
  4. Test MCP servers - verify each MCP server starts correctly
  5. Update Claude Desktop - automatically configure Claude to use MCP Hangar

Restart Claude Desktop after the wizard completes.

Verify It Works

Check that your MCP servers are configured:

mcp-hangar status

You should see your configured MCP servers listed (they'll show as COLD until first use).

Adding More MCP servers

Add MCP servers anytime with:

mcp-hangar add github     # GitHub integration (needs token)
mcp-hangar add sqlite     # SQLite database access
mcp-hangar add postgres   # PostgreSQL access

Available Bundles

Use bundles to quickly configure common setups:

Bundle MCP servers Use Case
starter filesystem, fetch, memory General everyday use
developer starter + github, git Software development
data starter + sqlite, postgres Data analysis 
# Start fresh with a bundle
mcp-hangar init --bundle=developer

Manual Configuration

If you prefer manual setup or need advanced configuration:

1. Create config file

Create ~/.config/mcp-hangar/config.yaml:

mcp_servers:
  filesystem:
    mode: subprocess
    command: [npx, -y, "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem"]
    args: [/Users/your-username/Documents]
    idle_ttl_s: 300

  fetch:
    mode: subprocess
    command: [npx, -y, "@modelcontextprotocol/server-fetch"]
    idle_ttl_s: 300

2. Update Claude Desktop config

Add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-hangar": {
      "command": "mcp-hangar",
      "args": ["serve", "--config", "/Users/your-username/.config/mcp-hangar/config.yaml"]
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop

Troubleshooting

Claude Desktop not found

If the wizard can't find Claude Desktop:

mcp-hangar init --claude-config /path/to/claude_desktop_config.json

MCP Server won't start

Check the MCP server status for errors:

mcp-hangar status mcp-server-name

Permission denied

Make sure you have write access to the config directories:

  • MCP Hangar config: ~/.config/mcp-hangar/
  • Claude Desktop config: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ (macOS)

Next Steps