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Claude Desktop setup

Configure Claude Desktop to use the Mad Fish Elements MCP server with your user-generated API key.

Production MCP endpointhttps://funkadelic.madfishdigital.com/mcp
AuthenticationAuthorization: Bearer <your-user-api-key>
Before you configure Claude Desktop

Each person should connect Claude Desktop with an API key generated for their own Mad Fish Elements user. The key resolves to that user's organization, visible connections, and Read, Write, and Delete permissions.

Sign in to the portal, open Connections & Keys, and generate a key with a recognizable label such as Claude Desktop - Taylor. Copy the full key when it is shown; for security, it cannot be displayed again later.

1. Generate the user API key

Use the correct user account

Generate the key while signed in as the person who will use Claude Desktop. Do not share an administrator's key with another user.

Confirm connection access

Only connections enabled for that user will be available through the MCP server. An administrator can adjust connection access and capability permissions in the portal.

Copy the complete key

The prefix alone is not a credential. Keep the full generated value available until it has been added to Claude Desktop.

2. Open the Claude Desktop configuration
PlatformConfiguration fileHow to open it
macOS~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.jsonClaude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config
Windows%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.jsonClaude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config
Add the Mad Fish Elements server

If the file is empty, use the first example. Replace <paste-your-full-api-key> with the full key and keep the Bearer prefix, including the space.

If the file already contains an mcpServers object, add only the mad-fish-elements entry inside it. Do not create a second mcpServers property or remove existing servers.

New Claude Desktop configclaude_desktop_config.json
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mad-fish-elements": {
      "url": "https://funkadelic.madfishdigital.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <paste-your-full-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Use this complete object when no other MCP servers are configured.

Merge with existing serversJSON merge example
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "existing-server": {
      "command": "existing-command"
    },
    "mad-fish-elements": {
      "url": "https://funkadelic.madfishdigital.com/mcp",
      "headers": {
        "Authorization": "Bearer <paste-your-full-api-key>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Preserve every existing server and add the Mad Fish Elements entry with a separating comma.

3. Restart and verify Claude

Validate and save the JSON

Use straight quotation marks, keep braces balanced, and remove trailing commas. Save the file as plain UTF-8 JSON.

Fully restart Claude Desktop

Quit the application completely, then reopen it so the desktop client reloads the configuration.

Confirm the tools are available

Open the Connectors control from the conversation composer and select Mad Fish Elements. You can also review the MCP connection status and logs in Claude Desktop's Developer settings.

Troubleshooting

Server does not appear: confirm the file is valid JSON, verify it is saved at the platform-specific path above, and restart Claude Desktop completely.

401 Unauthorized: confirm the full key was pasted after Bearer , the key is active, and it belongs to the intended user. Generate a fresh key if the original value is unavailable.

Connection appears but tools are missing: ask an administrator to enable the required connections and capabilities for that user, then allow the portal sync job to complete before reconnecting.

Key was exposed: revoke or rotate it immediately in Connections & Keys, replace the value in the JSON file, and restart Claude Desktop.

Generate your Claude Desktop key

Open Connections & Keys to create a user-scoped credential and manage access to each connected service.

Open Connections & Keys