MCP Tool Selection Guide

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) allows Claude Code to interact with external tools and services. MCP servers provide specialized capabilities beyond Claude’s built-in tools.

Choosing MCP Servers

When selecting MCP servers, consider:

1. Your tech stack - Rails developers benefit from rails-mcp-server, Node developers from npm-related tools
2. Workflow needs - Git operations, database access, web search
3. Security requirements - Some servers have broader permissions than others

Configuration

Add MCP servers to your ~/.claude/settings.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "git-local": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@anthropic/mcp-git-local"]
    },
    "brave-search": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["@anthropic/mcp-brave-search"],
      "env": {
        "BRAVE_API_KEY": "${BRAVE_API_KEY}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Priority Order

Claude Code uses tools in this priority:

1. MCP tools - Specialized operations (git, database, search)
2. Built-in tools - Read, Write, Edit, Glob, Grep
3. Bash - Fallback for system commands

Common Combinations

Web Development

• git-local - Version control
• brave-search - Documentation lookup
• read-website-fast - Fetch web content

Rails Development

• rails-mcp-server - Model/route introspection
• git-local - Version control
• rust-mcp-filesystem - Advanced file operations

Data Analysis

• brave-search - Research
• rust-mcp-filesystem - File handling

Best Practices

1. Start minimal - Add servers as needed
2. Use project configs - Different projects may need different servers
3. Monitor permissions - Review what each server can access
4. Keep updated - MCP servers improve regularly