MCP per IDE

Claude Code MCP setup

Wire webfetch into Anthropic's Claude Code CLI with one command or a manual config edit.

Claude Code is Anthropic's official CLI. It's the reference client for MCP and the one webfetch tests against first.

#One-command setup

claude mcp add webfetch -- npx -y @webfetch/mcp

That's it. Claude reloads the config automatically. New sessions can call the webfetch tools immediately.

#Manual setup

Edit ~/.claude/settings.json and merge:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webfetch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@webfetch/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "UNSPLASH_ACCESS_KEY": "...",
        "PEXELS_API_KEY": "...",
        "SPOTIFY_CLIENT_ID": "...",
        "SPOTIFY_CLIENT_SECRET": "..."
      }
    }
  }
}

Environment variables under env are scoped to the MCP server process only — they don't leak into the rest of Claude Code.

Restart Claude Code (exit and re-open) for the new server to register.

#Verification

In a new Claude Code session:

> List the webfetch providers and their auth status.

Claude should call the webfetch search_images tool (or a dedicated providers query), then respond with a list of ~20 providers and which ones have keys configured.

Or try an end-to-end flow:

> Find a CC0 photo of Mount Fuji suitable for a blog hero image
> (minimum 1600px wide). Download the top result and give me the
> attribution line.

Claude will call search_images with licensePolicy: "safe-only" and minWidth: 1600, pick the top candidate, call download_image, and print the attribution.

#Troubleshooting

  • "Failed to connect to MCP server 'webfetch'" — check that npx is on PATH. Use the absolute path (which npx) if needed.
  • "Tool returned no candidates" — most commonly a too-strict licensePolicy on a niche query. Ask Claude to "try again with licensePolicy prefer-safe".
  • Tool not appearing at all — restart Claude Code. Check ~/.claude/logs/*.log for startup errors from the MCP subprocess.
  • "Cannot find module '@webfetch/mcp'" — first invocation downloads via npx. If your machine is offline, install globally: npm install -g @webfetch/mcp.

#Next steps