MCP Chat Desktop App

What is MCP Chat Desktop App?

MCP Chat Desktop App is a cross-platform Electron-based interface that uses the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect and interact with various Large Language Models (LLMs). It provides a clean, minimalistic codebase for understanding MCP principles and enables quick testing of multiple servers and LLMs for developers and researchers.

How to use MCP Chat Desktop App?

Clone or download the repository. Modify the config.json file in src/main to set valid command and path for MCP servers. Ensure Node.js is installed, then run npm install followed by npm start. Alternatively, create a .json config file with API key, URL, path, model, and mcp flag, then provide it as interface configuration.

Key features of MCP Chat Desktop App

• Cross-platform support for Linux, macOS, and Windows.
• Apache-2.0 license for easy modification and redistribution.
• Dynamic LLM configuration compatible with any OpenAI SDK-supported backend.
• Multi-client management for connecting to multiple MCP servers.
• UI extractable for web use with consistent ecosystem and interaction logic.

Use cases of MCP Chat Desktop App

• Test and compare different LLM backends (e.g., OpenAI, Qwen, DeepInfra) with a single interface.
• Learn the core principles of MCP through a streamlined, educational codebase.
• Quickly verify MCP server configurations and tool calls during development.
• Build custom desktop AI applications by modifying the open-source codebase.

FAQ from MCP Chat Desktop App

What platforms does MCP Chat Desktop App support?

It supports Linux, macOS, and Windows.

How do I configure a new LLM backend?

Create a JSON file with your API key, endpoint URL, path, model name, and set "mcp": true. Provide this file as the interface configuration.

What is the license and is it free to use?

The project is licensed under Apache-2.0, allowing free use, modification, and redistribution.

Why do I get "spawn npx ENOENT" on Windows?

On Windows, npx may not work. Modify config.json to use "command": "node" with the full path to the server script, or refer to the documented workaround.

How do I build my own desktop application from this?

Run npm run build-app to package the app for your current OS. Artifacts are placed in the /artifacts directory. For Debian/Ubuntu, you may need to install rpm or edit package.json to skip the RPM build step.