Connect Hive to Claude Desktop

Connect Claude Desktop to Hive with Claude's Custom Connectors flow. Use the managed remote endpoint for normal setup, then verify that Claude can call a live Hive tool in a new chat.

Before you start

1. Claude Desktop installed from claude.ai/download. macOS or Windows.
2. A Claude plan that supports Custom Connectors. Free is limited to one custom connector; Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise have higher limits. (Source: Anthropic: Custom Connectors using remote MCP.)

Recommended: Custom Connector (managed remote endpoint)

This is the path Anthropic recommends for any remote MCP server. You add the connection through Claude Desktop's UI, not the config file. Claude Desktop's claude_desktop_config.json is stdio-only and does not accept url+headers entries.

1. Open Custom Connectors

In Claude Desktop:

1. Click your account avatar → Settings
2. Click Connectors in the sidebar
3. Hover over Add custom, then click Web

2. Configure Hive

3. Verify it worked

Start a new chat and ask:

"What is the current price of Bitcoin and Ethereum?"

Claude calls Hive's get_price tool and replies with live numbers. The tool-call indicator should appear in the chat. Click it to inspect the request.

Alternative: local stdio server

If you cannot add a Custom Connector, need a local subprocess, or want to supply upstream provider credentials directly, Claude Desktop can start Hive as a self-hosted stdio server. This is the path that goes through claude_desktop_config.json.

The 1.3.0 release candidate requires Node 22.12 or newer on your PATH.

1. Open the config file

In Claude Desktop: Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json in your default editor.

2. Add this stdio config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "hive": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "-p", "hive-intelligence@latest", "hive"]
    }
  }
}

Local stdio does not use a hosted HIVE_API_KEY. Add provider variables such as COINGECKO_DEMO_API_KEY, ALCHEMY_API_KEY, HELIUS_API_KEY, or MORALIS_API_KEY to env only for the local integrations you want to enable.

3. Restart Claude Desktop

Quit fully (⌘Q on macOS, right-click the dock icon → Quit) and reopen. Claude picks up the new MCP server on launch.

What to ask once connected

Hive exposes a compact root discovery layer and a source-backed 537-tool release-candidate catalog. Claude discovers deployed tools through MCP at runtime; for the current REST catalog, use authenticated GET /api/v1/tools or the public Live Catalog. Try:

• "Assess token 0x6B175474E89094C44Da98b954EedeAC495271d0F before a purchase: show honeypot flags, owner risks, liquidity depth, and a pass/block/escalate outcome."
• "Which DeFi pools on Ethereum have a 7-day yield above 10% with at least $10M TVL?"
• "What's the profit and loss of vitalik.eth's wallet this year?"
• "Has any whale moved more than $5M of USDC onchain in the last 24 hours?"
• "Compare BTC perpetual funding rates across Binance, Bybit, and OKX right now."

Troubleshooting

The Custom Connectors menu is missing or greyed out. You're on a Claude plan or version that hasn't enabled custom MCP connectors. Update Claude Desktop (Claude menu → Check for Updates), or upgrade to Pro/Team/Enterprise. As of 2026, Free supports one custom connector.

The connector says "couldn't connect" or "401". Remove the draft connector and add the URL again so Claude restarts OAuth discovery. Make sure browser pop-ups are allowed and check Hive status.

Hive tools don't appear in chat. Open the connector in Settings → Connectors → Hive, click Refresh tools, then start a new chat. Existing chats don't pick up newly added connectors.

Connection error from a corporate network. mcp.hiveintelligence.xyz may be blocked. Test on a home network to isolate. If you must stay behind the firewall, use the stdio alternative above. It routes through Node and can pick up your proxy environment variables.

Command not found: npx (stdio alternative only). Install Node.js 22.12 or newer from nodejs.org, then restart Claude Desktop.

A provider tool reports missing_key (stdio alternative only). Add that provider's documented environment variable to the local server's env, then restart Claude Desktop. Do not add HIVE_API_KEY; it applies only to the managed HTTP service.

Other clients

• Claude Code: Anthropic's terminal CLI.
• Cursor: IDE-native MCP support.
• All clients: full list.

Next steps

• Agent Resources: what Claude can build with Hive wired in.
• Tools Reference: every tool Claude can call.
• Data Sources: the upstream providers Hive normalizes.