Get started with Claude Desktop and TiDB MCP Server

This guide shows how to configure the TiDB MCP Server in Claude Desktop.

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have the following:

• Claude Desktop: Download and install Claude Desktop from claude.ai.
• Python (>=3.10) and uv: Ensure Python (3.10 or later) and uv are installed. Follow the installation guide to install uv.
• A TiDB Cloud Starter instance: You can create a free TiDB Cloud Starter instance on TiDB Cloud.

Setup steps

Follow the steps below to set up the TiDB MCP Server in Claude Desktop:

1. Open the Settings dialog.

2. Click the Developers tab in the dialog.

3. Click the Edit Config button to open the MCP config file claude_desktop_config.json.

4. Copy the following configuration into the claude_desktop_config.json file.

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "TiDB": {
         "command": "uvx --from pytidb[mcp] tidb-mcp-server",
         "env": {
           "TIDB_HOST": "localhost",
           "TIDB_PORT": "4000",
           "TIDB_USERNAME": "root",
           "TIDB_PASSWORD": "",
           "TIDB_DATABASE": "test"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   

5. On the My TiDB page, click the name of your target TiDB Cloud Starter instance to go to its overview page.

6. Click Connect in the upper-right corner to get the connection parameters, and replace the TIDB_HOST, TIDB_PORT, TIDB_USERNAME, TIDB_PASSWORD, and TIDB_DATABASE values with your own.

7. Restart Claude Desktop.

For more details, see how to configure the MCP server in Claude Desktop.