On MacOS: `~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json` On Windows: `%APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Macos defaults mcp server lets Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients work with Macos Defaults directly. On MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json.
On MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Once connected, the assistant can call these 6 tools directly:
list-domains — - equivalent to running defaults domainsfind — - equivalent to running defaults find defaults-read — - equivalent to running defaults read defaults-write — - equivalent to running defaults write Tools — The Tools tool exposed by this serverDebugging — Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. For the best debugging experience, we strongly recommend using the [MCPThe server is distributed via npm as @modelcontextprotocol/inspector, so most clients can run it without a manual build step. Add it to your MCP client's configuration and restart the client to pick it up — the copy-paste configs for Claude Desktop, Claude Code and Cursor are on this page.
Before the server will start you need to supply one environment variable: UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN. Keep credentials in your client's env block or a secrets manager rather than committing them.
Developer-tool servers are usually the first ones people connect, because they turn "help me with this code" into an assistant that can actually read the repo and act on it. Macos Defaults sits in that group, and the shape of its toolset — list-domains, find, defaults-read among others — tells you what it is really for. Worth comparing against the other developer tools servers in this directory before you commit to one, since several overlap in scope but differ sharply in setup cost and permissions.
| Tool | What it does |
|---|---|
| list-domains | - equivalent to running defaults domains |
| find | - equivalent to running defaults find <word> |
| defaults-read | - equivalent to running defaults read <domain> <key> |
| defaults-write | - equivalent to running defaults write <domain> <key> <value> |
| Tools | The Tools tool exposed by this server. |
| Debugging | Since MCP servers run over stdio, debugging can be challenging. For the best debugging experience, we strongly recommend using the [MCP Inspector](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector). |
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-server-macos-defaults": {
"command": "uv",
"args": [
"--directory",
"/path/to/mcp-server-macos-defaults",
"run",
"mcp-server-macos-defaults"
]
}
}Configuration as documented by the project. Restart the client after saving.
| Variable | Description | Required |
|---|---|---|
| UV_PUBLISH_TOKEN | Credential the server authenticates with. | Yes |
Kill hallucinated APIs — version-accurate, up-to-date library documentation injected straight into context.
Microsoft's official browser automation server — drive a real browser through the accessibility tree, no screenshots needed.
GitHub's official server — repos, issues, pull requests, Actions and code security, straight from your assistant.
Issue tracking at the speed of conversation — Linear's official hosted server with OAuth and zero install.
Local repository surgery — status, diffs, commits, branches and history for any repo on disk.
Timezone sanity for AI — current time anywhere and correct conversions, without the model doing date math.