Supported AI apps and MCP clients
The 12 AI apps (MCP clients) Delta MCP finds on your computer, including Claude, Cursor and VS Code, how each is switched over, and the two you set up by hand.
On this page
Delta MCP reads the MCP settings of the AI apps on your computer. To switch an app over, it adds one entry to that app, named mcpdelta. Through that entry the app reaches every connector that goes through Delta MCP.
The apps
Twelve apps are recognised. Ten are switched over by Delta MCP. Codex and Zed are set up by hand for now.
| App | Where Delta MCP looks | How it is switched over |
|---|---|---|
| Claude Desktop | claude_desktop_config.json, and its extensions | Entry added to the file. Each moved extension is paused in its own settings file. |
| Claude Code | ~/.claude.json (yours and each project’s), a project’s .mcp.json, the plugins you turned on | Through Claude Code’s own claude mcp commands. A shared .mcp.json is never edited. |
| Cursor | ~/.cursor/mcp.json | Entry added to the file. |
| VS Code | mcp.json in VS Code’s user folder | Entry added to the file. |
| Windsurf | ~/.codeium/windsurf/mcp_config.json | Entry added to the file. |
| Gemini CLI | ~/.gemini/settings.json | Entry added to the file. |
| Cline | cline_mcp_settings.json, inside VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf | Entry added to the file. |
| Roo Code | mcp_settings.json, inside VS Code, Cursor or Windsurf | Entry added to the file. |
| LM Studio | ~/.lmstudio/mcp.json | Entry added to the file. |
| Amazon Q | ~/.aws/amazonq/mcp.json | Entry added to the file. |
| Codex | ~/.codex/config.toml | By hand for now. |
| Zed | ~/.config/zed/settings.json | By hand for now. |
Claude Desktop, VS Code, Cline and Roo Code keep their files in the settings folder of your system. That is ~/Library/Application Support on macOS, %APPDATA% on Windows and ~/.config on Linux.
Codex and Zed servers are found and listed, but they stay direct. They keep working as they are until you add Delta MCP to their settings yourself.
What switching over does
- Delta MCP adds
mcpdeltato the app first, so the app is never left without its tools. - It turns off the direct entry of each server it moves. It keeps the original entry, to put it back as it was.
- You restart the app so it takes the change.
For the restart, quit and reopen Claude Desktop. In Claude Code, start a new conversation. For any other app, reopen it. When a Claude Desktop extension moves, quit Claude Desktop first (⌘ Q) so it takes the extension change.
Each app only sees the connectors that were in it, or that you added to it. A project’s servers stay in that project.
The entry looks like this. The exact command depends on how Delta MCP is installed.
"mcpdelta": {
"command": "<Delta MCP's own program>",
"args": ["<its command-line script>", "gate", "--client", "cursor"]
}Good to know
Delta MCP rewrites a JSON settings file as plain JSON. Comments in the file are not kept. Before each change it saves a dated copy, so the original text is still there. See Put everything back.
Claude Code is changed through its own command, so Claude Code must be installed. A server from a shared .mcp.json is turned off for you only, in the project’s .claude/settings.local.json. The shared file is not touched.
The apps offered under Used in are the ones Delta MCP finds installed: Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, VS Code, Windsurf, Gemini CLI and LM Studio. Servers already in Cline, Roo Code or Amazon Q are found and switched, but those three are not offered as a place to add a connector no app runs yet.
An AI app that is not in the table is not found. Delta MCP cannot switch it over: not yet.
Claude’s own connectors, such as Gmail, run inside Claude and cannot go through Delta MCP. See Connectors.
To see where each app keeps its MCP servers, and its tool limit, read MCP config file locations: Claude, Cursor, VS Code and more.
Next: Quickstart, Connectors, Put everything back.
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