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Integration

Claude Desktop

This guide registers knowmind as an MCP server in the Claude Desktop app. From then on, every chat in Claude Desktop has access to the ten knowmind tools. Setup takes around five minutes.

Audience
Private and business users working with the Claude Desktop app (macOS or Windows). Familiarity with JSON helps but is not required.

Prerequisites

  • Claude Desktop installed (Anthropic account required)
  • knowmind account on any plan
  • One of the two integration options ready: (a) the knowmind CLI installed with a registered token, or (b) an API token of the form kmt_…
Note

Recommendation: use the CLI option

Option A with the knowmind CLI is safer because the API token stays in the CLI configuration file with restricted file permissions and is never written into the Claude Desktop configuration. Both options are described below — we recommend Option A.

Steps

  1. 1

    Locate the configuration file

    Claude Desktop reads its MCP configuration from a JSON file. The path depends on the operating system:

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

    If the file does not exist, create it. If it does, check whether an mcpServers block is already present — extend it rather than overwriting it.

    Outcome: You have the file open in an editor.

  2. 2

    Option A: register the knowmind CLI (recommended)

    Prerequisite: you have run knowmind login --token kmt_… once. If not, follow the command line guide first.

    json
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "knowmind": {
      "command": "knowmind",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}

    Claude Desktop launches knowmind mcp on demand, which authenticates using the token from the CLI configuration and relays requests.

    Outcome: The configuration file contains the knowmind entry, the API token stays in the CLI configuration.

  3. 3

    Option B: HTTP transport with a bearer token

    This option does not require the CLI, but stores the token inside the Claude Desktop configuration file.

    json
    {
  "mcpServers": {
    "knowmind": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://knowmind.de/api/mcp/v1",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer kmt_…"
      }
    }
  }
}
  4. 4

    Restart Claude Desktop

    Claude Desktop reads its configuration only at startup. Quit the app fully (right-click the menu bar or task bar icon) and start it again.

    Outcome: The ten knowmind tools appear in the Claude Desktop tool drawer. Open the drawer with the tool icon at the bottom of the chat window.

  5. 5

    Smoke-test from chat

    Ask a question that points at known content in your Memory Store: "What do we know about Project Helios?" or "Who is the onboarding contact?"

    Outcome: Claude Desktop calls knowmind.recall (visible in the tool-call area) and answers based on your knowmind content.

Verify the result

The integration is set up correctly when all three conditions hold:

  • The knowmind tools are visible in the Claude Desktop tool drawer (recall, stats, health, store_memory, upload_document, update_fact, link, unlink, list_relations, recall_at_time).
  • A question about content in your workspace triggers a Claude answer that cites the source.
  • In the knowmind dashboard, under "Audit log", you see the recall calls (only if your plan includes the audit log — available from Private upwards).

Troubleshooting

Error messageCauseResolution
Tools not visible in the drawerClaude Desktop was not fully quit — only the window was closed.Use "Quit" from the menu-bar or task-bar icon, then start the app again.
JSON syntax error in claude_desktop_config.jsonMisplaced comma or missing bracket.Open the file in an editor with JSON linting (for example VS Code) and fix the reported error. Templates are in step 2 and step 3 above.
ECONNREFUSED on tool callknowmind.de unreachable, or local network blocks outbound HTTPS.Open https://knowmind.de/api/health in your browser. If that returns OK, check firewall and proxy settings on your workstation.
401 unauthorized in Option BToken value copied incorrectly or whitespace inside the quotes.Revoke the token in the dashboard, create a new one and copy the full kmt_… string without spaces.

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