Claude Desktop + Render

Manage your Render apps from Claude Desktop.

Claude Desktop is Anthropic's desktop app for Claude. Connect it to Render through the Render MCP server and Claude can create services, spin up Render Postgres databases, run read-only SQL queries, and pull logs and metrics — all from a normal chat. Render runs your apps on managed infrastructure (real Postgres with HA and read replicas, persistent disks, background workers, no cold starts, and render.yaml Blueprints), so Claude has stable, production-grade surfaces to act against.

Setup contract

Config file: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Auth: API key
Restart required: Yes
Verify: list_workspaces

Agent details

Agent: Claude Desktop
Short name: Claude
Vendor: Anthropic
Docs: Open Claude Desktop docs

Quick start

Install Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download.
Create a Render API key. Generate one in your account settings and keep it handy.
Add Render as a custom connector. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector, enter the Render MCP server URL, then add your API key as a request header:
plaintext
```
https://mcp.render.com/mcp
```
Under Request headers, add a header named Authorization with the value Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>. Prefer editing a config file instead? See the MCP configuration section below.
Restart Claude Desktop and start a new chat so the connector loads.
Set your Render workspace. If your account has multiple workspaces, tell Claude which one to use. For example, "Set my Render workspace to <YOUR_WORKSPACE_NAME>."
Try a prompt, like "List my Render services and show the latest deploy status for each."

Quick links

Render MCP docs MCP Server on GitHub Claude connectors docs Claude Code + Render

MCP configuration

The Render MCP server is hosted at https://mcp.render.com/mcp. Claude Desktop can reach it two ways: as a custom connector (no files to edit) or through the local claude_desktop_config.json file using the mcp-remote bridge.

MCP setup

Install command

Settings → Connectors → Add custom connector

Config file

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

OAuth

Not supported yet

Open Settings → Connectors and click Add custom connector.
Enter the server URL https://mcp.render.com/mcp.
Open the Request headers section, add a header named Authorization, and set its value to Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY> (include the word Bearer and the space).
Click Add, then restart Claude Desktop.

Custom connectors are available on the Free (one connector), Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans. If the dialog only shows OAuth client fields, use the config-file method instead.

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file, then restart the app. The file lives at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows.

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "render": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-remote",
        "https://mcp.render.com/mcp",
        "--header",
        "Authorization: Bearer ${RENDER_API_KEY}"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RENDER_API_KEY": "<YOUR_API_KEY>"
      }
    }
  }
}

The mcp-remote bridge lets Claude Desktop talk to the hosted server and pass your API key. Requires Node.js 18+.

The Render MCP server currently uses API-key authentication. Generate a key in your account settings and pass it as a Bearer token. OAuth support is on the roadmap.

For the full tool reference and troubleshooting, see the MCP server docs and the Render MCP server repo.

Example prompts

Start with one of these prompts, then refine the plan with your agent.

Deploy

Deploy an example Flask web service on Render from https://github.com/render-examples/flask-hello-world.

Data

Create a Render Postgres database named user-db with 5 GB of storage.

Query

Using my Render database, tell me which items were most frequently bought together.

Debug

Pull the most recent error-level logs for my API service and summarize the likely cause.

Metrics

What was the busiest traffic day for my web service this month?

Config

List the environment variables on my web service and flag anything that looks unset.

Common workflows

Spin up a new service

Ask Claude to create a web service, static site, or cron job from a public Git repo.
Review the proposed name, plan, and environment variables.
Confirm, and let the MCP server create it in your active workspace.
Check the first deploy's status and logs.

Create and query a database

Ask Claude to create a Render Postgres database and pick a plan.
Wire its connection string into a service's environment variables.
Run read-only SQL queries to explore data and answer questions.

Investigate logs and metrics

Ask Claude for the most recent error-level logs for a service.
Have it summarize CPU, memory, and response metrics over a time range.
Decide on next steps, then apply supported changes like environment variable updates.

Tips for success

Set your workspace first so Claude acts against the right account resources.
Claude Desktop is a chat app, not a repo-aware coding agent. The MCP server can create supported services and update environment variables, but it can't trigger deploys, change scaling, or delete resources — use the Render Dashboard, API, or CLI for those.
For repo-aware deploys and code edits, use Claude Code with Render. It layers Render skills and the CLI on top of the same MCP server.

FAQ

Troubleshooting

The connector dialog only shows OAuth fields

Some accounts see only OAuth client ID and secret fields in the Add custom connector dialog. Use the Request headers section to add Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_KEY>, or fall back to the claude_desktop_config.json method with the mcp-remote bridge.

Claude Desktop ignores a `url` entry in the config file

claude_desktop_config.json validates local (stdio) servers only. A bare "url" entry is silently dropped. Use the mcp-remote command in the MCP configuration section, or add the server as a custom connector instead.

Authentication errors from the Render MCP

The header must be the literal string Bearer <KEY>. Confirm your API key is valid and has access to the target workspace. If you used the config file, make sure RENDER_API_KEY is set to your real key.

Community

Start a new project Read the docs

Other coding agents that pair well with Render.