Zen MCP Server NPX Wrapper

Easy-to-use NPX wrapper for Zen MCP Server - Give Claude access to multiple AI models (Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama) for enhanced development capabilities.

Quick Start

npx zen-mcp-server-199bio

That's it! No Docker required. 🎉

What is Zen MCP Server?

Zen MCP Server gives Claude Desktop access to multiple AI models for:

🧠 Extended reasoning with Gemini 2.0 Pro's thinking mode
💬 Collaborative development with multiple AI perspectives
🔍 Code review and architectural analysis
🐛 Advanced debugging with specialized models
📊 Large context analysis (Gemini: 1M tokens, O3: 200K tokens)
🔄 Conversation threading - AI models maintain context across multiple calls

Features

✅ No Docker required - Runs directly with Python
🚀 Fast startup - No container overhead
💾 Lightweight - Minimal resource usage
🔧 Auto-setup - Handles Python dependencies automatically
📦 Virtual environment - Isolated dependencies
🌍 Cross-platform - Works on macOS, Windows, Linux

First Time Setup

On first run, the wrapper will:

Check Python 3.11+ is installed
Clone Zen MCP Server to ~/.zen-mcp-server
Create .env file and prompt for API keys
Set up Python virtual environment
Install dependencies automatically

Quick Install

1. Get API Keys (at least one required)

Choose one or more:

Gemini: Google AI Studio
OpenAI: OpenAI Platform
OpenRouter: OpenRouter (access to 100+ models)

2. Add to Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["zen-mcp-server-199bio"],
      "env": {
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_gemini_key_here",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "your_openai_key_here",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your_openrouter_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it! Just restart Claude Desktop and you're ready to go.

Location of config file:

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Usage with Claude CLI

claude mcp add zen "npx" "zen-mcp-server-199bio"

Available Tools

Once configured, Claude will have access to these tools:

zen - Default tool for quick AI consultation (alias for chat)
chat - Collaborative development discussions
thinkdeep - Extended reasoning (Gemini 2.0 Pro)
codereview - Professional code review
precommit - Pre-commit validation
debug - Advanced debugging assistance
analyze - Smart file and codebase analysis

Quick Usage: Just say "use zen" for quick AI consultations!

Troubleshooting

Python not found?

macOS: brew install [email protected]
Windows: Download from python.org
Linux: sudo apt install python3.11

Dependencies issue?

The wrapper tries to install automatically, but if it fails:

cd ~/.zen-mcp-server
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

API key issues?

Check ~/.zen-mcp-server/.env has valid keys
Ensure at least one API key is configured
For OpenRouter, check your credits/limits

Requirements

Python 3.11+
Node.js >= 14.0.0
Git
At least one API key (Gemini, OpenAI, or OpenRouter)

Why No Docker?

We removed Docker because:

Faster startup - No container overhead
Less resource usage - No Redis, no Docker daemon
Simpler - Just Python and your API keys
Same features - Conversation threading works perfectly with in-memory storage

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE

Zen