Which MCP servers should your AI client use? A client selection guide

1. First, understand what the configuration looks like

Almost every client registers MCP servers in a JSON file, and the structure is basically the same:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-server": {          // a name you choose
      "command": "npx",     // how to launch it
      "args": ["-y", "server-package-name"],
      "env": { }            // optional: environment variables such as API keys
    }
  }
}

Which file holds it and how to edit it differs per client (settings page or config file) — see the MCP configuration tutorial for step-by-step instructions.

2. Mainstream client support at a glance

Client	MCP support	Best for
Claude Desktop	Full support (JSON config)	Files / browser / web scraping
Claude Code	Full support (CLI commands)	GitHub / databases / testing
Cursor	Supported (settings config)	Codebase / docs / browser
VS Code (Copilot / Cline, etc.)	Depends on the extension; most support it	Choose by extension ecosystem
Cherry Studio & other desktop aggregators	Partial support	Everyday information processing

Support evolves quickly with each release, so check the client's official site for the current version before configuring.

3. "What to install first" by scenario

Development-first (Claude Code / Cursor)

Official GitHub MCP: check Issues, open PRs, review code
Playwright MCP: control the browser for E2E testing
Database connectors: query SQLite/Postgres directly

Documents & office work (Claude Desktop)

File system: let AI read and write local documents directly
MarkItDown-style converters: PDF/Word → Markdown, then feed it to AI
Browser / web scraping: let AI research and save pages itself

Information & data (general)

Data harvesting / retrieval: let AI search on demand and organize results
Vector databases: connect your own private knowledge base for Q&A

Rule of thumb: start with 2–3 high-frequency servers, then add more once they run smoothly. More isn't better — each server eats into the model's context, and installing too many just causes AI to suffer from "choice paralysis."

4. Three security bottom lines

Grant least privilege: if read-only is enough, don't hand out write access; keep API keys in env rather than hard-coded into a conversation.
Watch how you launch: remote execution like npx -y should come from trusted sources — never install server packages of unknown origin.
Clean up regularly: remove unused servers from your config to shrink the attack surface.

For more risks and a protection checklist, see the MCP security guide; where to find servers, check the curated server list below.