Claude MCP Servers: Local vs Remote, and Where to Find Them
Updated October 31, 2026
Claude MCP servers are the programs Claude connects to for extra tools. Local servers run on your own computer (a filesystem server, a Git server), and remote servers run at a web address (Notion's, Linear's, GitHub's, or one for your own site).
Local servers touch your machine. Remote servers touch your accounts. Decide which of those you need and the rest of the choice mostly makes itself.
Local vs remote
| Local server | Remote server | |
|---|---|---|
| Runs on | Your computer, started by the app | Someone's server on the internet |
| Talks over | stdio (standard input and output) | Streamable HTTP |
| Signs in with | Keys in environment variables, or nothing | Usually OAuth in your browser |
| Typical install | A command like npx -y some-server | A URL like https://mcp.example.com/mcp |
| Who updates it | You, or the extension directory | The company that runs it |
| Can see your files | Yes, whatever you allow | No |
The MCP docs put the difference neatly: a local server usually serves one client, and a remote server typically serves many. When Claude Desktop launches the filesystem server, it's local. Sentry's official server runs on Sentry's platform and is remote.
That difference also decides which Claude apps can use it. Anthropic's docs say local servers from the desktop config file aren't available in claude.ai or Cowork, while remote servers work across Claude's apps. The Claude MCP overview lays out all four places, side by side.
Neither kind is better. A remote server can't read a folder on your laptop, and a local server can't follow you to your phone.
The seven official reference servers (local)
The MCP project keeps seven reference servers on GitHub. They're open source and they're what most tutorials use:
- Filesystem: read, write, move and search files in folders you allow.
- Fetch: pull a web page and convert it into text a model can use.
- Git: read, search and work with Git repositories.
- Memory: a knowledge-graph memory that persists between chats.
- Sequential Thinking: a step-by-step problem-solving tool.
- Time: time and timezone conversion.
- Everything: a test server that exercises every MCP feature, for developers.
The README is blunt that these are reference implementations for learning, not production. Try Filesystem to see how MCP feels, then use maintained servers for real work.
The old GitHub, Slack, Google Drive, PostgreSQL, Puppeteer, Sentry and Brave Search servers from that repository have been archived. Brave has an official server now and Slack's is maintained by Zencoder, so look for the current version instead of the archived one.
Ten official remote servers, with their URLs
Each of these is run by the company itself, and the URL comes from that company's docs as of October 2026. Most sign you in with the account you already have in that app.
| Service | URL | What Claude can do with it |
|---|---|---|
| Notion | https://mcp.notion.com/mcp | Search and work with pages in your workspace |
| Linear | https://mcp.linear.app/mcp | Find, create and update issues |
| Asana | https://mcp.asana.com/v2/mcp | Work with tasks and projects |
| GitHub | https://api.githubcopilot.com/mcp/ | Repos, issues and pull requests (OAuth or a personal access token) |
| Sentry | https://mcp.sentry.dev/mcp | Look into errors and issues in your Sentry projects |
| Figma | https://mcp.figma.com/mcp | Bring design context from Figma files into the chat |
| Stripe | https://mcp.stripe.com | Read and write Stripe data; refunds need your confirmation in the Dashboard |
| Supabase | https://mcp.supabase.com/mcp | Manage the projects in the Supabase org you pick at sign-in |
| Cloudflare | https://mcp.cloudflare.com/mcp | The main Cloudflare API server (Cloudflare runs several others for docs, browsers and more) |
| Hugging Face | https://huggingface.co/mcp | Search models, datasets, Spaces and papers on the Hub |
In Claude, any of these goes in as a custom connector, and some are already in the directory as one-click connectors. In Claude Code it's claude mcp add --transport http <name> <url>.
Linear and Supabase use dynamic client registration for OAuth, so there's nothing to set up first. Asana notes some clients may need a client ID and secret from its developer docs. And Stripe is moving API-key users to new agent keys by November 30, 2026, though OAuth sign-ins aren't affected.
Where to find more
Claude's Connectors directory at claude.ai/connectors is the easiest place to look, because everything there is one click. The desktop extensions directory inside Claude Desktop does the same for local servers. Beyond those, the official MCP Registry at registry.modelcontextprotocol.io is a catalog run by MCP contributors, and a vendor's own help center is the most reliable source for its URL.
There's an opinionated shortlist for people who run websites on the best MCP servers page.
A worked example: a server for a WordPress site
None of the ten above can touch a self-hosted WordPress site, because each one connects to a single company's service. A WordPress site needs a server that knows about your site specifically.
Kitepod is one example: a free remote MCP server at https://kitepod.com/mcp plus a plugin you install on each site. It fits the remote column of the table above. It's added by URL, it signs in with OAuth, and it can't see your laptop, only the sites you connect.
With the plugin on each of your client sites, they all show up in the same conversation:
Update the plugins on all three of my client sites and tell me if any homepage looks different afterward.
Under the default balanced approval policy, each plugin update waits for you to approve it. Kitepod then takes a checkpoint before each update and screenshots the pages before and after. The WordPress MCP overview compares Kitepod with the other WordPress options.
What goes wrong
A tutorial's local server won't start. Most of them run through npx, which needs Node.js; check with node --version. Desktop extensions are the exception, because Claude Desktop bundles its own Node.js.
A GitHub, Slack or Google Drive server stopped working. You may be on the archived reference version. Switch to the vendor's own server.
A local server can do more than you meant. The filesystem server runs with your user account's permissions, so it can do any file operation you can do in the folders you list. List fewer folders.
A remote URL from a blog post fails. URLs change (Asana's is now a /v2/ address), so take them from the vendor's docs, not from someone's old tutorial.
Finer points
Are Claude MCP servers free?
The reference servers are free and open source. Remote servers come from the company that runs them, and most use your existing account in that app, so check its pricing.
Is a remote MCP server less private than a local one?
They're private in different ways. A local server keeps data on your machine but can read your files. A remote server never sees your disk, but your requests pass through whoever runs it.
Do I need to build my own MCP server?
Usually not. Check the directory, the registry and the vendor's docs first. If nothing exists for a system you control, building an MCP server covers the official SDKs.
Every URL in that table goes in the same way, so the second server you add takes half the thought of the first.