Configuring Claude Desktop to connect to the MCP server

After you install the MCP server on your local machine, you must configure Claude Desktop to connect to the MCP server.

Locating the configuration file

The Claude Desktop configuration file location varies by operating system:

Configuration file location
Operating System	Configuration File Path
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`
Linux	`~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

Configuration procedure

Open the Claude Desktop configuration file in a text editor.

Add the following configuration, replacing placeholder values with your actual credentials:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "IBM watsonx.data MCP Server": {
      "command": "/path/to/ibm-watsonxdata-mcp-server",
      "args": ["--transport", "stdio"],
      "env": {
        "WATSONX_DATA_BASE_URL": ""https://<your-instance>.lakehouse.cloud.ibm.com/lakehouse/api",
        "WATSONX_DATA_API_KEY": "<your_api_key_here>",
        "WATSONX_DATA_INSTANCE_ID": "crn:v1:<bluemix:public:lakehouse:us-south/a/...>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the configuration file.
Restart Claude Desktop.

To configure Claude Desktop for development setup, refer IBM watsonx.data MCP Server.