Claude MCP server gateway

A Python MCP server gateway for Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cline and Roo. Instead of loading all MCP tools at startup, it loads them on demand.

Works with: Claude Desktop (app), Claude Code (terminal), Cline and Roo (VSCode extensions)

Compatibility

Platform	Config File	Supported
Claude Desktop	claude_desktop_config.json	Yes
Claude Code	.claude.json or .mcp.json	Yes
Cline (VSCode)	cline_mcp_settings.json	Yes

The MCP server problem

When you connect multiple MCP servers to Claude:

• GitHub MCP server: 51 tools
• Slack MCP server: 20 tools
• Google Drive MCP: 15 tools
• Filesystem MCP: 12 tools

That's 100+ MCP tool definitions loaded before you even start. Each tool's JSON schema eats up tokens.

What this Claude MCP server gateway does

The gateway acts as a single MCP server with 3 tools:

1. list_available_mcps - shows configured MCP servers
2. load_mcp_tools - loads tools from a specific MCP server
3. call_mcp_tool - executes the tool

Model Context Protocol servers only start when Claude actually needs them.

Setup

Requirements

• Python 3.11+ (for MCP Python SDK)
• Claude Desktop, Claude Code, or Cline/Roo
• MCP servers you want to use

Install

git clone https://github.com/bzsasson/claude-mcp-server-gateway.git
cd claude-mcp-server-gateway

python3.11 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate  # Windows: .venv\Scripts\activate

pip install mcp python-dotenv

Configure API keys

cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your tokens

Claude Desktop MCP server configuration

Add to your Claude Desktop config:

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gateway": {
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop.

How to add MCP server to Claude Code

Claude Code MCP server setup uses a similar config with one additional field.

User-level configuration (all projects)

Edit ~/.claude.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gateway": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"]
    }
  }
}

Project-level configuration

For project-specific MCP servers, create .mcp.json in your project root:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gateway": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"]
    }
  }
}

Claude Code will prompt for approval when using project-scoped servers.

Alternative: Claude Code CLI

# Add the gateway using CLI
claude mcp add gateway --scope user \
  --command /path/to/.venv/bin/python \
  -- /path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py

# Verify it's added
claude mcp list

Cline/Roo MCP server configuration

For Cline and Roo (VSCode extensions), the MCP server gateway configuration goes in:

Mac: ~/Library/Application Support/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Windows: %APPDATA%/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json
Linux: ~/.config/Code/User/globalStorage/saoudrizwan.claude-dev/settings/cline_mcp_settings.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gateway": {
      "command": "/path/to/.venv/bin/python",
      "args": ["/path/to/claude-mcp-server-gateway/dcl_wrapper.py"],
      "disabled": false
    }
  }
}

Restart VSCode after updating.

How it works

1. Claude starts - sees gateway (3 tools)
2. You ask about GitHub - Claude calls list_available_mcps
3. Claude sees GitHub available - calls load_mcp_tools("github")
4. Gateway returns GitHub's tool list
5. Claude picks the right tool - calls call_mcp_tool("github", "search_repositories", {...})
6. Gateway spins up GitHub MCP, runs the tool, returns results

Adding MCP servers to the gateway

Edit dcl_wrapper.py and add to the MCP_SERVERS dict:

MCP_SERVERS = {
    "your-server": {
        "command": "npx",
        "args": ["-y", "your-mcp-package"],
        "env": {
            "API_KEY": os.getenv("YOUR_API_KEY", "")
        },
        "description": "What it does"
    }
}

Currently configured servers

• github
• slack
• google-drive
• filesystem
• postgres
• memory
• brave-search

(Check dcl_wrapper.py for the full list)

Limitations

• Small delay on first tool use (server startup)
• Each MCP server connection is temporary
• No persistence between calls

Troubleshooting

Gateway not appearing

• Check Python path in config points to virtual environment
• Verify dcl_wrapper.py path is correct
• Restart Claude Desktop/Code/VSCode completely

MCP server connection errors

• Check API keys in .env file
• Verify MCP server package is installed
• Check gateway logs for errors

Claude Code specific issues

• Make sure to include "type": "stdio" in config
• For project configs, approve when prompted
• Use claude mcp list to verify installation

Files

• dcl_wrapper.py - The gateway server
• .env - Your API keys
• requirements.txt - Python dependencies

License

MIT