Claude Desktop

vike-cli mcp is not a URL and cannot be added as a connector: it is a local process Claude Desktop launches and speaks stdio to. Declare it in the config file instead.

The config file

Settings → Developer → Edit Config opens it, at ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS and %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vike-trader": {
      "command": "vike-cli",
      "args": ["mcp", "--node", "127.0.0.1:7879"]
    }
  }
}

Then quit Claude Desktop completely and start it again — the config is read at launch, not on save.

Both flags are optional and both only widen what the tools can reach: --node <host:port> is the running vike-tradehub the live tools observe and control (no default), and --addr <host:port> is the vike-datahub the backtest tools ship profiles to (default 127.0.0.1:7878). With neither, the four offline tools — validate_strategy, discover_params, list_templates, list_indicators — still work, so a flag-less entry is a fine first step.

The node keys

That same launch context is why the keys usually belong in the credential store rather than your shell profile. vike-cli reads VIKE_TRADEHUB_OBSERVE_KEY and VIKE_TRADEHUB_CONTROL_KEY from the process environment first and then from <project>/settings/secrets.env — the same file the daemon itself reads — and a GUI-launched child sees none of your terminal's exports. The resolver is crates/vike-cli/src/cmd/nodekeys.rs's resolve.

If you would rather pin them to this one client, the entry takes an env block:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "vike-trader": {
      "command": "vike-cli",
      "args": ["mcp", "--node", "127.0.0.1:7879"],
      "env": { "VIKE_TRADEHUB_OBSERVE_KEY": "..." }
    }
  }
}

The process environment wins over the store, per key, so an env entry here overrides a stored value of the same name and leaves the other key resolving from the store. Consider what each key buys before writing it into a file: the observe key reads, the control key places orders.

Verify

list the vike strategy templates

calls list_templates, which needs no key, no node and no network — so it answers exactly one question: is Claude Desktop launching the binary and speaking the protocol to it. With a node configured, follow it with "show me the node snapshot" to prove the observe key as well.

If vike-trader never appears under the hammer icon, the config file did not parse or the binary did not start. Claude Desktop writes each server's stderr to its own log — mcp-server-vike-trader.log under ~/Library/Logs/Claude (macOS) or %APPDATA%\Claude\logs (Windows) — and vike-cli is careful to keep every diagnostic on stderr, because its stdout is a protocol.

The data server too

Claude Desktop can hold both Vike servers at once. The hosted data server is a URL, so it is added in the UI as a connector rather than in this file — Data client setup → Claude Desktop walks it. If you do add a second entry to mcpServers, give it a different name: a client keys its servers by name and the second vike would replace the first.