---
title: MCP Server for Claude Desktop - Free Setup Guide
description: Configure Tenets MCP server for Claude Desktop. Free, open source AI code context. Give Claude intelligent access to your codebase.
---
# MCP Server for Claude Desktop
**Free, open source MCP server** that gives Claude Desktop intelligent code context. NLP-powered ranking finds the most relevant files for any task.
## Why Use Tenets with Claude?
| Without Tenets | With Tenets |
|----------------|-------------|
| Manually copy-paste code | Claude calls Tenets directly |
| Random file selection | NLP-ranked relevance |
| Context window waste | Token-optimized output |
| No persistence | Sessions with pinned files |
## Quick Setup (2 minutes)
### Step 1: Install
```bash
pip install tenets[mcp]
```
### Step 2: Configure Claude Desktop
**macOS:** Edit `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
**Windows:** Edit `%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tenets": {
"command": "tenets-mcp"
}
}
}
```
### Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop
Quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
### Step 4: Verify
Ask Claude:
> "What MCP tools do you have available?"
Claude should list `distill`, `rank_files`, `examine`, `session_create`, etc.
## What Tenets Provides to Claude
### Available Tools
| Tool | Purpose |
|------|---------|
| `distill` | Build optimized code context |
| `rank_files` | Preview file relevance |
| `examine` | Analyze codebase structure |
| `chronicle` | Git history analysis |
| `momentum` | Development velocity |
| `session_create` | Persistent sessions |
| `session_pin_file` | Pin files to session |
| `tenet_add` | Add coding guidelines |
### Example Prompts
**Build context for a task:**
> "Use tenets to find code related to user authentication in /path/to/project"
**Rank files without content:**
> "Use tenets rank_files to show the top 10 files for 'payment processing'"
**Create a working session:**
> "Use tenets to create a session called 'auth-refactor' and pin src/auth/"
**Add guidelines:**
> "Use tenets to add a critical tenet: Never log sensitive user data"
## Configuration Options
### Full Path (Recommended)
```bash
# Find your path
which tenets-mcp
```
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tenets": {
"command": "/usr/local/bin/tenets-mcp"
}
}
}
```
### With Working Directory
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tenets": {
"command": "tenets-mcp",
"args": ["--path", "/Users/you/projects/myapp"]
}
}
}
```
### Debug Logging
```json
{
"mcpServers": {
"tenets": {
"command": "tenets-mcp",
"env": {
"TENETS_LOG_LEVEL": "DEBUG"
}
}
}
}
```
## Troubleshooting
### Claude says "I don't have access to tenets tools"
1. Check config file location is correct
2. Verify JSON syntax (use a JSON validator)
3. Fully restart Claude Desktop
4. Use absolute path to `tenets-mcp`
### "Command not found"
Find the binary location:
```bash
which tenets-mcp
# /usr/local/bin/tenets-mcp
```
Use that full path in config.
### Tools timeout on large projects
Add exclusions to `.tenets.yml` in your project:
```yaml
scanner:
exclude:
- node_modules/
- .git/
- dist/
- "*.min.js"
```
## Why Tenets?
- **Free forever** — MIT license, open source
- **100% local** — Code never leaves your machine
- **NLP-powered** — BM25, TF-IDF, import centrality
- **Fast** — Thousands of files in seconds
## Next Steps
- [Full MCP Documentation](MCP.md)
- [Tutorial](tutorial.md)
- [CLI Reference](CLI.md)
- [FAQ](faq.md)
---
<div style="text-align: center; padding: 2rem; margin: 2rem 0; background: rgba(245, 158, 11, 0.05); border-radius: 12px;">
<p><strong>Tenets is 100% free and open source.</strong></p>
<p>MIT License · <a href="https://github.com/jddunn/tenets">GitHub</a> · <a href="https://pypi.org/project/tenets/">PyPI</a></p>
</div>
