Claude Desktop MCP servers in every account

Add an MCP server to Claude Desktop

Anthropic's guide to local MCP servers on Claude Desktop (checked October 2026) describes desktop extensions as single-click packages that install local MCP servers without editing JSON by hand.

Go to Settings > Desktop app and click Manage next to Extensions (or Settings > Extensions in the older layout).
Click Browse extensions, choose one from Anthropic's directory and click Install.
Fill in any required settings, such as an API key.
The extension is then available in your conversations.

For a custom extension, open Advanced settings, find the Extension Developer section, click Install Extension and choose the .mcpb file. To check what's connected, click the + button in the chat box and choose Connectors, or open the Local MCP servers section of the Extensions page.

Desktop extension or remote connector

Anthropic separates two kinds of connection in when to use desktop and web connectors:

Remote connectors are for cloud services you sign in to. They work across Claude on the web, mobile and desktop, and in Claude Code.
Desktop extensions run on your Mac, for local files, a localhost database or a desktop app. They are only available in Claude Desktop and Claude Code.

The difference matters when you use more than one account. A remote connector belongs to the account that connected it. A desktop extension belongs to the copy of Claude Desktop where you installed it.

Why each account has its own setup

Remote connectors are authorized per account, so connecting a service in your work account doesn't connect it in your personal account. You sign in to that service again from the other account.

Desktop extensions are stored with the copy of Claude Desktop that installed them. If you run a second copy with its own data folder, whether by hand or as a profile, it starts with none of your extensions. Expect to install each one again in every copy where you want it, and to re-enter any settings. Anthropic notes that settings marked as sensitive, such as API keys, are encrypted in your Mac's Keychain.

That separation is useful. A client's database extension can live only in the account you use for that client.

Claude Code MCP servers are separate again

Claude Code, including Claude Code inside Claude Desktop, has its own MCP list. Anthropic's Claude Code MCP documentation shows servers added with a command such as:

claude mcp add --transport http example https://mcp.example.com/mcp

Servers have a scope. Local scope, the default, applies to one project; user scope applies to all your projects; both are stored in Claude Code's configuration (~/.claude.json in the usual setup). Project scope writes a .mcp.json file at the project root that you can commit, so it travels with the project rather than the account.

If each account has its own Claude Code configuration folder, its user and local servers don't carry over. Project-scope servers do, because they live in the project. Share skills and MCP servers across Claude Code accounts covers this in more depth.

Reusing local Claude Code MCP definitions with Switch

Switch gives each Claude Desktop account its own profile. With Keep coding preferences separate, which is on by default for new profiles, a profile gets its own Claude Code configuration folder, and Switch launches that profile's Claude Desktop with CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR pointed at it.

Switch can then share the local Claude Code MCP server definitions you choose, along with skills, commands and plugins, across profiles and your Mac's usual Claude Code setup. Credentials aren't copied, existing choices aren't overridden, and cloud connectors are still authorized in each account. This applies to Claude Code's local definitions. Claude Desktop's own extensions are still installed per profile from Settings, as above. See how Switch handles Claude Code.