Claude Desktop MCP server config for a project backlog

Add Autoplans to claude_desktop_config.json through the autoplans-mcp stdio bridge, so a Claude Desktop conversation can read and update the backlog.

The configuration

File: claude_desktop_config.json, opened from Settings → Developer → Edit Config · Transport: stdio via autoplans-mcp

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "autoplans": {
      "command": "autoplans-mcp",
      "env": { "AUTOPLANS_API_KEY": "apk_live_..." }
    }
  }
}

The endpoint is https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp. Create the key in the dashboard under Settings → API keys; see Accounts and API keys.

Step by step

1
Install Node.js if the machine does not have it — the bridge runs on it.
2
Run npm install -g autoplans-mcp.
3
Create an API key in the dashboard under Settings → API keys.
4
Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config in Claude Desktop, and paste the block into claude_desktop_config.json under mcpServers, keeping any servers already there.
5
Quit Claude Desktop completely and start it again; the file is read at launch.
6
Click "Add files, connectors, and more" at the bottom left of the message box, move the mouse over Connectors, click "Manage connectors", and select autoplans to see its tools.

Specific to Claude Desktop

•The servers in claude_desktop_config.json are ones Claude Desktop starts on your machine: the documented fields are command, args and env, and no url field is documented. The Autoplans endpoint is remote, so autoplans-mcp runs locally and forwards each call to https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp with your key.
•The file lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows. The Edit Config button opens the right one and creates it if it does not exist.
•The other route to a remote server is Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, which takes the server URL and, under Advanced settings, an OAuth client id and secret. There is no field for a bearer header, so an API-key endpoint like this one goes through the bridge instead.
•If nothing appears after a restart, read the logs — ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp.log on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\logs on Windows — and give command an absolute path if npm's bin directory is not on the PATH the app inherits. AUTOPLANS_MCP_URL in the same env block points the bridge at a self-hosted deployment.

What the agent can do once connected

Around forty tools: list and create projects, read the whole task graph in one list_tasks call, ask code_agent_get_task_with_dependencies whether a task is blocked, move it to in progress, comment on it, and mark it done. Every tool and its arguments is in the MCP tools reference; the server itself is described on the MCP server page.

curl -s https://autoplans.dev/api/v1/mcp \
  -H 'content-type: application/json' \
  -H "authorization: Bearer $AUTOPLANS_API_KEY" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list"}'

Questions

Where is claude_desktop_config.json?

On macOS, ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. On Windows, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. You do not have to find it by hand: Settings → Developer → Edit Config opens it, and creates the file if this is the first server you have added.

Can Claude Desktop connect to a remote MCP server directly?

It can, through Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, which asks for the server URL and, under Advanced settings, an OAuth client id and secret. That dialogue has no place to put a bearer token, so a server authenticated with an API key — this one included — is easier to reach through a local stdio bridge. autoplans-mcp is that bridge: one npm package, your key in the env block, the same tools.

The tools did not appear after I edited the Claude Desktop MCP server config. What should I check?

Quit the app completely and reopen it, rather than closing the window. Then check the JSON parses, that autoplans-mcp runs on its own from a terminal with AUTOPLANS_API_KEY set, and that command resolves on the PATH the app inherits — an absolute path settles it. The MCP logs under ~/Library/Logs/Claude or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs name the failure, and mcp-server-autoplans.log holds the bridge's own output.

Do Claude Desktop and Claude Code share a configuration?

No. Claude Desktop reads claude_desktop_config.json; Claude Code reads .mcp.json in the project and ~/.claude.json for your user. They are separate apps with separate files, so adding the server in one does not add it to the other. The Claude Code block is at /mcp-server/claude-code, and both end up talking to the same backlog.

Checked against the Claude Desktop documentation on 2026-08-28.