Claude Desktop¶

Connect image-generation-mcp to Claude Desktop as an MCP server.

Configuration¶

Edit your Claude Desktop MCP configuration file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

Placeholder only (no API keys)¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "image-gen": {
      "command": "image-generation-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": {
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_READ_ONLY": "false"
      }
    }
  }
}

With OpenAI¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "image-gen": {
      "command": "image-generation-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": {
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_READ_ONLY": "false",
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-..."
      }
    }
  }
}

With OpenAI + SD WebUI¶

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "image-gen": {
      "command": "image-generation-mcp",
      "args": ["serve"],
      "env": {
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_READ_ONLY": "false",
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_OPENAI_API_KEY": "sk-...",
        "IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_SD_WEBUI_HOST": "http://localhost:7860"
      }
    }
  }
}

HTTP transport¶

For HTTP transport (required for authentication):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "image-gen": {
      "url": "http://localhost:8000/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Start the server separately:

IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_READ_ONLY=false \
IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_OPENAI_API_KEY=sk-... \
image-generation-mcp serve --transport http --port 8000

Verify¶

After restarting Claude Desktop:

Look for the MCP server icon in the chat input area
Ask Claude: "List the available image generation providers"
Ask Claude: "Generate a test image of a sunset"

Troubleshooting¶

Server not showing in Claude Desktop¶

Verify the JSON syntax is valid (no trailing commas)
Ensure image-generation-mcp is on your PATH (try running it in a terminal first)
Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen)

Tools not visible¶

Check that IMAGE_GENERATION_MCP_READ_ONLY is set to "false" -- the generate_image tool is hidden in read-only mode (the default)
list_providers is always visible regardless of read-only mode

Generation fails¶

Check the provider is available: ask Claude to run list_providers
For OpenAI: verify your API key is valid and has image generation access
For SD WebUI: verify the WebUI is running and accessible at the configured host

Mobile app limitations¶

The Claude mobile app has a known bug with MCP Apps (interactive viewer). Image generation works, but the viewer iframe fails with "Failed to fetch app content." Use create_download_link to get a browser-accessible URL instead. See Client Compatibility for details.