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This page gets you from a fresh Claude Desktop install to “Claude is editing my workspace” in five minutes. You will edit one JSON file, restart the app once, and ask a single verification question. Pick the Builder MCP path, the Public API MCP path, or both — the configs compose.

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Prerequisites

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Option 1 — Builder MCP

The Builder MCP server is bundled with the CLI and authenticates with your CLI session. Fastest path to letting Claude edit pages.

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Option 2 — Public API MCP

The Public API MCP runs with a workspace API key and exposes every tagged REST endpoint as a tool.

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Run both at once

You can register both servers in the same config — Claude routes calls based on which server exposes the tool it needs.
claude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gavai-builder": {
      "command": "gavai",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    },
    "gavai-api": {
      "command": "bunx",
      "args": ["@gavai/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "GAVAI_TOKEN": "gak_test_...",
        "GAVAI_PUBLIC_API_URL": "https://api.gavai.app"
      }
    }
  }
}
Restart once after editing. After restart, asking Claude “list my workspaces” still calls list_tenants from the Builder MCP; asking it to “rotate the deploy bot’s key” calls rotateWorkspaceToken from the Public API MCP.

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Troubleshooting

Check that the config file is at the correct path for your OS and that the JSON parses — no trailing commas, balanced braces. Paste it into a JSON linter if you are not sure.Quit Claude Desktop completely (not just close the window) and reopen it. MCP servers register at startup only.If the server still does not appear, the gavai or bunx binary is probably not on the PATH Claude Desktop sees. On macOS, apps launched from Finder do not inherit your shell’s $PATH. See Tools list is empty below for the fix.
Builder MCP — run gavai whoami in your terminal. If it errors, run gavai login again to refresh credentials.Public API MCP — confirm the GAVAI_TOKEN value in the config is complete and not truncated. If you suspect it’s compromised, rotate it in Settings → API keys and update the config.
An empty tool list usually means the server process failed to start. The most common cause on macOS is that the binary is not on the PATH visible to Claude Desktop.Use the absolute path to the binary in the config:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gavai-builder": {
      "command": "/usr/local/bin/gavai",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}
Run which gavai (or which bunx) in your terminal to find the correct path.

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Where to next