MCP Autostarter

Instructions

Implementation Reference

• src/index.ts:88-107 (handler)

  MCP tool handler for 'restart_claude' that delegates to ProcessManager.restartClaudeDesktop() and returns the result as JSON.

  case 'restart_claude': {
    try {
      console.error('Restarting Claude Desktop...');
      const result = await processManager.restartClaudeDesktop();
      
      return {
        content: [
          {
            type: 'text',
            text: JSON.stringify(result, null, 2),
          },
        ],
      };
    } catch (error) {
      throw new McpError(
        ErrorCode.InternalError,
        `Failed to restart Claude Desktop: ${error}`
      );
    }
  }

• src/index.ts:43-49 (schema)

  Tool schema definition including name, description, and empty input schema for 'restart_claude'.

  name: 'restart_claude',
  description: 'Fully restarts Claude Desktop application (use only if MCP restart fails)',
  inputSchema: {
    type: 'object',
    properties: {},
    required: [],
  },

• src/index.ts:30-62 (registration)

  Registration of the 'restart_claude' tool in the ListToolsRequestHandler response.

  server.setRequestHandler(ListToolsRequestSchema, async () => {
    return {
      tools: [
        {
          name: 'restart_mcp',
          description: 'Intelligently restarts only the MCP handler process without disrupting Claude Desktop UI',
          inputSchema: {
            type: 'object',
            properties: {},
            required: [],
          },
        },
        {
          name: 'restart_claude',
          description: 'Fully restarts Claude Desktop application (use only if MCP restart fails)',
          inputSchema: {
            type: 'object',
            properties: {},
            required: [],
          },
        },
        {
          name: 'get_mcp_status',
          description: 'Check if MCP handler and Claude Desktop processes are running',
          inputSchema: {
            type: 'object',
            properties: {},
            required: [],
          },
        },
      ],
    };
  });

• src/process-manager.ts:78-123 (helper)

  Core implementation of restarting Claude Desktop: finds process, kills it, launches new instance based on platform, and verifies restart.

  async restartClaudeDesktop(): Promise<RestartResult> {
    try {
      const claudeProcess = await this.detector.findClaudeDesktopProcess();
      
      if (!claudeProcess) {
        return {
          success: false,
          message: 'Claude Desktop is not running',
          error: 'CLAUDE_NOT_RUNNING'
        };
      }
  
      const oldPid = claudeProcess.pid;
      
      // Kill Claude Desktop
      await this.gracefulKill(claudeProcess.pid);
      await this.delay(2000);
  
      // Restart Claude Desktop based on platform
      await this.launchClaudeDesktop();
      
      // Wait for it to start
      const newProcess = await this.waitForClaudeDesktop(10000);
      
      if (newProcess) {
        return {
          success: true,
          message: 'Claude Desktop restarted successfully',
          oldPid,
          newPid: newProcess.pid
        };
      } else {
        return {
          success: false,
          message: 'Failed to restart Claude Desktop',
          error: 'CLAUDE_RESTART_FAILED'
        };
      }
    } catch (error) {
      return {
        success: false,
        message: 'Error restarting Claude Desktop',
        error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'UNKNOWN_ERROR'
      };
    }
  }