Connect Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop has two places LUCI can plug into, and they need different setups. The Code tab is Claude Code, so it reads the official skills. Chat reads local MCP servers from a config file.

Code tab: install the skills

Local sessions in the Code tab load your personal skills from ~/.claude/skills/, the same folder the Claude Code CLI uses.

1. Turn on screen memory and leave LUCI running.
2. Open Settings → Agent access.
3. Click Install next to Claude Code.

Start a new session in the Code tab. luci and distill are there. Plugin install and other options: Connect Claude Code.

Chat: add LUCI as an MCP server

Custom connectors under Settings → Connectors won't work for LUCI. Claude reaches those from Anthropic's servers, and they cannot see an address on your computer. Use the config file instead.

That file only starts local programs, so a small npm package, mcp-remote, carries Claude's calls to LUCI. You need Node.js installed.

1. Turn on screen memory and leave LUCI running.
2. In LUCI, open Settings → Agent access → Manual MCP setup and copy the URL and token.
3. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Developer and click Edit Config. That opens claude_desktop_config.json:
   • Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   • Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
4. Add LUCI under mcpServers, with your URL and token in place of the placeholders:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "luci": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "<url>", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer <token>" }
    }
  }
}

5. Quit Claude Desktop completely and open it again. Closing the window is not enough.

To check, click + in the bottom-left corner of the message box and point at Connectors. luci should be in the list.

Try asking

• "What was I looking at this morning?"
• "Search my screen memory for the error I saw in the browser"
• "What did we decide on yesterday's call?"
• "What was I working on between 2pm and 4pm?"

If luci does not show up

• LUCI has to be running, with screen memory on.
• Check the JSON. A stray comma is enough to stop the server loading.
• Read the log: ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-luci.log on Mac, or the mcp*.log files in %APPDATA%\Claude\logs on Windows.
• Reinstalled LUCI? Copy the token again. It belongs to this install.

More fixes: Common issues. The same URL and token work in any MCP client: Connect over MCP.

Your memory stays on this computer. What Claude pulls into a chat becomes part of that chat, and goes to Anthropic with it. See Agent Bridge.