Remote-MCP-Server-for-Claude-Desktop

# Background This is a tutorial for using **Win10 Claude Desktop** to communicate with the **remote mcp server** on the remote linux server. # Tutorial Steps: 1. Download a port forwarding tool (e.g., Termius or VSCode). 2. Deploy the MCP server on the remote server (e.g., on port 127.0.0.1:8080 of the remote server). 3. Use port forwarding to map the remote server's port to your local port (e.g., map 127.0.0.1:8080 on the remote server to 127.0.0.1:8081 on your local machine). 4. Allow Claude Desktop to access the local port 127.0.0.1:8081. This setup enables it to communicate with the MCP server on the remote server as if it were local. ## 1. Environment SSH your remote linux server, then create environment for mcp: ``` conda create -n mcp_demo python=3.10 conda activate mcp_demo pip install mcp openai python-dotenv mcp[cli] ``` ## 2.Use VSCode for Port Forwarding SSH your server. Create any Python file (e.g. weatherSSE.py) and typing the following MCP server code in the highlighted section:  ``` from typing import Any, Dict import httpx from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP mcp = FastMCP( name="weather", host="127.0.0.1", port=8000, description="simple add function", sse_path='/sse' ) @mcp.tool() def add(a: int, b: int) -> int: """Add remote two numbers""" return a + b if __name__ == "__main__": # init and start server try: print("Starting server...") mcp.run(transport='sse') except Exception as e: print(f"Error: {e}") ``` then run: ``` python weatherSSE.py ``` if anything work successfully, you will see the server is running on the 127.0.0.1:8080:  and you can see VSCode automatically mapped 127.0.0.1:8000 on the remote server to 127.0.0.1:8001 on the local machine.  Now go back to your Windows Claude Desktop, click File->Setting->Developer->Edit Config, and edit the json file:  ``` "math": { "command": "npx", "args": ["mcp-remote", "http://127.0.0.1:8001/sse"] } ``` now you can ask the Claude Desktop question: Use a tool to help me calculate: if a = 1 and b = 2, what is a + b?  Claude Desktop successfully invoked the tool deployed on the server hosted on the Linux machine. Due to port forwarding, accessing 127.0.0.1:8081 locally is equivalent to accessing the MCP server at 127.0.0.1:8080 on the remote server. ## (Optional)Use Termius for Port Forwarding If VSCode cannot automatically perform port forwarding for you, you can use a free tool like Termius(https://www.termius.com/) to achieve port forwarding. Create your new host, fill in your SSH connection details:  (Here, we assume that you have already set up the MCP environment and written the MCP server code.) Click Port Forwarding, create a port forwarding rul,fill in the required information:  Double-click the rule to activate it. If the rule icon turns blue, it indicates that the rule is working:  now you can ask the Claude Desktop question: Use a tool to help me calculate: if a = 1 and b = 2, what is a + b?