# Claude Desktop integration

> Install GNO as an MCP server in Claude Desktop for hybrid retrieval over your local documents.

Section: Integrations  
Canonical: https://gno.sh/docs/claude-desktop  
Markdown: https://gno.sh/docs/claude-desktop.md

`gno mcp install --target claude-desktop` adds GNO to Claude Desktop’s MCP config so Claude can run hybrid search over your local index in conversation. This page is the Claude Desktop target only.

## Quickstart

```
bun install -g @gmickel/gno
gno setup ~/notes --name notes
gno mcp install --target claude-desktop
```

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop to pick up the new server.

## Using it in conversation

> “Search my notes for anything about the quarterly review process”

> “What did I write about the deployment architecture last month?”

> “Find related notes to this PDF and give me a summary”

Claude picks the right tool and cites the source document in the response.

## Manual configuration

If the auto-install fails, add GNO to Claude Desktop’s config manually. Location depends on your OS:

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

```
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gno": {
      "command": "gno",
      "args": ["mcp"]
    }
  }
}
```

The minimal form depends on `gno` being on the `PATH` a GUI application inherits, which on macOS is frequently not your shell’s `PATH`. The installer avoids the problem by recording an absolute Bun and package entrypoint. Inspect what it would write first:

```
gno mcp install --dry-run --json
```

## What Claude can actually read

The index includes PDF, DOCX, XLSX, PPTX, plain text, source code, and imported mail, calendar, transcript, and JSONL [exports](https://gno.sh/docs/file-export-adapters). Converted binaries stay read-only, so Claude can cite a page of a PDF but cannot edit it.

Retrieval is read-only by default. The twenty-one mutating tools (create, update, move, capture, remember, reindex) require the explicit write opt-in, and authentication alone never enables them.

## Verifying and troubleshooting

- Quit and reopen Claude Desktop after installing. A reload is not enough.
- `gno mcp status` confirms configuration. The Connectors page in `gno serve` runs an explicit read-only retrieval check against the configured target.
- Server shows up but every answer is generic? Ask a question with a phrase that appears only in your corpus. If it still answers from general knowledge, the tool is not being called; say “search my notes for …” explicitly.
- Empty results across the board? Run `gno doctor`; lexical activation and semantic readiness are reported separately.