Claude MCP server gateway

A Python MCP server gateway for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cline and Roo. Instead of loading all MCP tools at startup, it loads them on demand.

Works with: Claude Desktop (app), Claude Code (terminal), Cline and Roo (VSCode extensions)

Compatibility

Platform	Config File	Supported
Claude Desktop	`claude_desktop_config.json`	Yes
Claude Code	`.claude.json` or `.mcp.json`	Yes
Cline (VSCode)	`cline_mcp_settings.json`	Yes

The MCP server problem

When you connect multiple MCP servers to Claude:

GitHub MCP server: 51 tools
Slack MCP server: 20 tools
Google Drive MCP: 15 tools
Filesystem MCP: 12 tools

That's 100+ MCP tool definitions loaded before you even start. Each tool's JSON schema eats up tokens.

What this Claude MCP server gateway does

The gateway acts as a single MCP server with 3 tools:

list_available_mcps - shows configured MCP servers
load_mcp_tools - loads tools from a specific MCP server
call_mcp_tool - executes the tool

Model Context Protocol servers only start when Claude actually needs them.

Setup

Requirements

Python 3.11+ (for MCP Python SDK)
Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cline/Roo
MCP servers you want to use

Install

git clone https://github.com/bzsasson/claude-mcp-server-gateway.git cd claude-mcp-server-gateway python3.11 -m venv .venv source .venv/bin/activate # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate pip install mcp python-dotenv

Configure API keys

cp .env.example .env # Edit .env with your tokens

Claude Desktop MCP server configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{ "mcpServers": { "gateway": { "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"] } } }

Restart Claude Desktop.

How to add MCP server to Claude Code

Claude Code MCP server setup uses a similar config with one additional field.

User-level configuration (all projects)

Edit ~/.claude.json:

{ "mcpServers": { "gateway": { "type": "stdio", "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"] } } }

Project-level configuration

For project-specific MCP servers, create .mcp.json in your project root:

{ "mcpServers": { "gateway": { "type": "stdio", "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"] } } }

Claude Code will prompt for approval when using project-scoped servers.

Alternative: Claude Code CLI

# Add the gateway using CLI claude mcp add gateway --scope user \ --command /path/to/.venv/bin/python \ -- /path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py # Verify it's added claude mcp list

Cline/Roo MCP server configuration

For Cline and Roo (VSCode extensions), the MCP server gateway configuration goes in:

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

{ "mcpServers": { "gateway": { "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python", "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"], "disabled": false } } }

Restart VSCode after updating.

How it works

Claude starts - sees gateway (3 tools)
You ask about GitHub - Claude calls list_available_mcps
Claude sees GitHub available - calls load_mcp_tools("github")
Gateway returns GitHub's tool list
Claude picks the right tool - calls call_mcp_tool("github", "search_repositories", {...})
Gateway spins up GitHub MCP, runs the tool, returns results

Adding MCP servers to the gateway

Edit dcl_wrapper.py and add to the MCP_SERVERS dict:

MCP_SERVERS = { "your-server": { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "your-mcp-package"], "env": { "API_KEY": os.getenv("YOUR_API_KEY", "") }, "description": "What it does" } }

Currently configured servers

github
slack
google-drive
filesystem
postgres
memory
brave-search

(Check dcl_wrapper.py for the full list)

Limitations

Small delay on first tool use (server startup)
Each MCP server connection is temporary
No persistence between calls

Troubleshooting

Gateway not appearing

Check Python path in config points to virtual environment
Verify dcl_wrapper.py path is correct
Restart Claude Desktop/Code/VSCode completely

MCP server connection errors

Check API keys in .env file
Verify MCP server package is installed
Check gateway logs for errors

Claude Code specific issues

Make sure to include "type": "stdio" in config
For project configs, approve when prompted
Use claude mcp list to verify installation

Files

dcl_wrapper.py - The gateway server
.env - Your API keys
requirements.txt - Python dependencies

License

MIT

This server cannot be installed

-

security - not tested

A

license - permissive license

-

quality - not tested

How are these scores calculated?

Related Resources

GitHub Repository

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