How to set up Vizro-MCP with Claude Desktop

Use of large language models

You must connect to a large language model (LLM) to use Vizro-MCP.

Please review our guidelines on the use of LLMs.

This page explains how to set up Claude Desktop to use Vizro-MCP.

Can I use the free tier with Claude?

You do not need to have a paid account with Claude to use Vizro-MCP, but your tokens for usage will be limited. Furthermore, for best performance, we recommend using the claude-4-sonnet model. Using the offered auto setting may lead to inconsistent or unexpected results.

If you have not already done so, download and install Claude Desktop. Vizro-MCP does not work with the web version of Claude.

Set up uv or Docker

To access Vizro-MCP, you must first install either uv or Docker by following the linked instructions.

Set up instructions

Once you have uv or Docker, and have installed the desktop version of Claude, you need to set up the Vizro-MCP server configuration.

You can find claude_desktop_config.json through the Claude desktop UI, by navigating to the Developer Settings and choosing "Edit Config". Open the file and edit it as follows, depending on whether you're using uv or Docker.

Using uv

If you've installed uv, open a terminal window and type uv to confirm that is available. To get the path to uvx, type the following:

which uv

Copy the path returned, and add the following to claude_desktop_config.json, substituting your path as returned above, for the placeholder given:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vizro-mcp": {
      "command": "/placeholder-path/uvx",
      "args": [
        "vizro-mcp"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Using Docker

If you are using Docker, add the following to claude_desktop_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vizro-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "mcp/vizro"
      ]
    }
  }
}

To use local data with Vizro-MCP

Mount your data directory or directories into the container with the following extended configuration. Replace </absolute/path/to/allowed/dir> (syntax for folders) or </absolute/path/to/data.csv> (syntax for files) with the absolute path to your data on your machine. For consistency, we recommend that the dst path matches the src path.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vizro-mcp": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "--mount",
        "type=bind,src=</absolute/path/to/allowed/dir>,dst=</absolute/path/to/allowed/dir>",
        "--mount",
        "type=bind,src=</absolute/path/to/data.csv>,dst=</absolute/path/to/data.csv>",
        "mcp/vizro"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Once you have updated the configuration, restart Claude Desktop. After a few moments, you should see the vizro-mcp menu in the settings/context menu:

Claude Desktop MCP Server Icon