Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop currently uses stdio transport, which means it can’t connect to Streamable HTTP servers directly. You’ll need the mcp-remote bridge, which requires Node.js.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (v18 or later)
• Claude Desktop app installed

Setup

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:

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

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "upstream": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://api.upstream.do/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer <your-token>"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Replace <your-token> with your Personal Access Token.

Restart Claude Desktop for the changes to take effect.

How it works

The mcp-remote package acts as a bridge: Claude Desktop talks to it over stdio, and it forwards requests to the Upstream MCP server over Streamable HTTP. You don’t need to install mcp-remote separately — npx handles it automatically.

Verify it works

After restarting, ask Claude:

“Show me my unread emails from Upstream”

You should see tool calls to Upstream MCP tools in the response.

Try these prompts

• “Show me what needs my reply”
• “Search my inbox for the Q3 proposal”
• “Summarize that long thread from Sarah”
• “Draft a reply to the investor update”