MCP server for Desktop Insights — look up SDKs, frameworks, and dependencies used by 12,000+ macOS and Windows desktop applications
MCP server for Desktop Insights — look up SDKs, frameworks, and dependencies used by 12,000+ macOS and Windows desktop applications. Exposed over MCP by the desktopinsights mcp mcp server, that capability becomes something an assistant can invoke while it works, not something you go and do afterwards.
Everything the assistant can do here goes through one of these:
Cursor — The Cursor tool exposed by this serverlookup_app — The lookup_app tool exposed by this serversearch_apps — The search_apps tool exposed by this servercompare_apps — The compare_apps tool exposed by this serverlist_sdk_categories — List all 11 tracked SDK categories with example values. Useful for discovering what filters are availableInstallation goes through your MCP client rather than a global install: point it at desktopinsights-mcp on npm and it is fetched when the client starts. The copy-paste blocks for Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor are further down this page.
You will need 2 environment variables: DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_KEY, DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_URL. The server will not start without them, which is usually why the tools fail to appear on a first run. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than in a file you might commit.
Among the developer tooling options, the useful question is rarely "what can it do" but "what does it cost you to run" — permissions, credentials, and how much of your context its toolset consumes. Desktopinsights MCP's toolset — Cursor, lookup_app, search_apps and 2 more — is a fair guide to whether it matches your workflow. It is maintained by andrewschreiber; worth a glance at recent repository activity before you build anything load-bearing on it.
This entry was verified against Desktopinsights MCP's own documentation before publication; SyncDev keeps the directory reviewed rather than auto-generated.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| Cursor | The Cursor tool exposed by this server. |
| lookup_app | The lookup_app tool exposed by this server. |
| search_apps | The search_apps tool exposed by this server. |
| compare_apps | The compare_apps tool exposed by this server. |
| list_sdk_categories | List all 11 tracked SDK categories with example values. Useful for discovering what filters are available. |
{
"mcpServers": {
"desktopinsights": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "desktopinsights-mcp"],
"env": {
"DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_KEY": "your-value",
"DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_URL": "your-value"
}
}
}
}Add to claude_desktop_config.json, then restart Claude Desktop.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_KEY | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
| DESKTOPINSIGHTS_API_URL | Endpoint or connection string the server talks to. | Yes |
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