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MCP Servers Best Practice

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MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers extend Claude Code with connections to external tools, databases, and APIs. This guide covers recommended servers for daily use and configuration best practices.

← Back to Claude Code Best Practice Claude

MCP Servers for Daily Use

"Went overboard with 15 MCP servers thinking more = better. Ended up using only 4 daily." — r/mcp (682 upvotes)

MCP Server What It Does Resources
Context7 Fetches up-to-date library docs into context. Prevents hallucinated APIs from outdated training data Reddit: "by far the best MCP for coding" · npm
Playwright Browser automation — implement, test, and verify UI features autonomously. Screenshots, navigation, form testing Reddit: essential for frontend · Docs
Claude in Chrome Connects Claude to your real Chrome browser — inspect console, network, DOM. Debug what users actually see Reddit: "game changer" for debugging · Comparison Report
DeepWiki Fetches structured wiki-style documentation for any GitHub repo — architecture, API surface, relationships Reddit: "put it behind a gateway with Context7"
Excalidraw Generate architecture diagrams, flowcharts, and system designs as hand-drawn Excalidraw sketches from prompts GitHub

Research (Context7/DeepWiki) -> Debug (Playwright/Chrome) -> Document (Excalidraw)

Configuration

MCP servers are configured in .mcp.json at the project root (project-scoped) or in ~/.claude.json (user-scoped).

Server Types

Type Transport Example
stdio Spawns a local process npx, python, binary
http Connects to a remote URL HTTP/SSE endpoint

Example .mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "context7": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@upstash/context7-mcp"]
    },
    "playwright": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@playwright/mcp"]
    },
    "deepwiki": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "deepwiki-mcp"]
    },
    "remote-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Use environment variable expansion for secrets instead of committing API keys in .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "remote-api": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp?token=${MCP_API_TOKEN}"
    }
  }
}

Settings for MCP Servers

These settings in .claude/settings.json control MCP server approval:

Key Type Description
enableAllProjectMcpServers boolean Auto-approve all .mcp.json servers without prompting
enabledMcpjsonServers array Allowlist of specific server names to auto-approve
disabledMcpjsonServers array Blocklist of specific server names to reject

Permission Rules for MCP Tools

MCP tools follow the mcp__<server>__<tool> naming convention in permission rules:

{
  "permissions": {
    "allow": [
      "mcp__*",
      "mcp__context7__*",
      "mcp__playwright__browser_snapshot"
    ],
    "deny": [
      "mcp__dangerous-server__*"
    ]
  }
}

MCP Scopes

MCP servers can be defined at three levels:

Scope Location Purpose
Project .mcp.json (repo root) Team-shared servers, committed to git
User ~/.claude.json (mcpServers key) Personal servers across all projects
Subagent Agent frontmatter (mcpServers field) Servers scoped to a specific subagent

Precedence: Subagent > Project > User

Sources