MCP Server Setup

Choose the setup method that matches your client. All methods use the STDIO transport and the same CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT environment variable to locate the source.

Claude Code (npm)
Claude Code (from source)
VS Code
Claude Desktop
Cursor

The quickest way to get started. No cloning required — npx pulls the published package on first run.

claude mcp add claude-code-explorer -- npx -y claude-code-explorer-mcp

Claude Code registers the server in your MCP config. The next time you open a session, the claude-code-explorer server is available.

When installed from npm, CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT defaults to the bundled src/ snapshot inside the npm package. To point at a different source tree, use the custom source path command below.

Build from a local clone for full control over the source path.

Clone the repository

git clone https://github.com/nirholas/claude-code.git ~/claude-code

Install dependencies and build

cd ~/claude-code/mcp-server && npm install && npm run build

This compiles TypeScript to dist/index.js.

claude mcp add claude-code-explorer -- node ~/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js

Replace ~/claude-code with your actual clone path if you chose a different location.

Create or update .vscode/mcp.json in your workspace root:

.vscode/mcp.json

{
  "servers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["${workspaceFolder}/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "${workspaceFolder}/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

${workspaceFolder} resolves to your VS Code workspace root at runtime. This config assumes you cloned the repo as your workspace root and have already run npm run build inside mcp-server/.

Add the entry to your Claude Desktop config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "/absolute/path/to/claude-code/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use absolute paths. Tilde expansion (~/) is not supported in Claude Desktop’s config file — write out the full path.

Restart Claude Desktop after saving the config.

Add the entry to ~/.cursor/mcp.json (create it if it does not exist). The format is identical to Claude Desktop:

~/.cursor/mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-explorer": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/claude-code/mcp-server/dist/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT": "/absolute/path/to/claude-code/src"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use absolute paths. Tilde expansion (~/) is not supported here — write the full path.

Custom source path

If you want to point the server at a source tree that is not co-located with the built dist/, set CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT explicitly at registration time:

claude mcp add claude-code-explorer \
  -e CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT=/path/to/src \
  -- node /path/to/mcp-server/dist/index.js

This is useful when you install from npm but want to explore a local clone of the source.

Remove the server

claude mcp remove claude-code-explorer

Environment variables

Variable	Default	Description
`CLAUDE_CODE_SRC_ROOT`	`../src` relative to `dist/`	Path to the Claude Code `src/` directory
`PORT`	`3000`	HTTP server port (HTTP mode only)
`MCP_API_KEY`	(none)	Bearer token for HTTP authentication (optional)

MCP Server

Codebase Guide

Custom source path

Remove the server

Environment variables

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

MCP Server

Codebase Guide

​Custom source path

​Remove the server

​Environment variables

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Custom source path

Remove the server

Environment variables