Claude Desktop | Docs | American Cloud

This guide connects the Claude Desktop app to American Cloud, so you can manage your infrastructure in a Claude conversation.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop (macOS or Windows)
Node.js 20 or newer installed (node --version to check)
An American Cloud API key from console.americancloud.com/api-keys — start with a read-only key

Configure

Open Claude Desktop Settings, go to the Developer tab, and click Edit Config. This opens (or creates) the config file:
- macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
- Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Add the American Cloud server to the mcpServers block:

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "americancloud": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@americancloud/mcp"],
      "env": {
        "AMERICANCLOUD_API_CLIENT_ID": "your-client-id",
        "AMERICANCLOUD_API_CLIENT_SECRET": "your-client-secret"
      }
    }
  }
}

Save the file and fully restart Claude Desktop (quit and reopen — closing the window is not enough).
In a new conversation, open the tools menu (the sliders icon in the input box). You should see americancloud listed with its tools.

Verify

Ask Claude:

"What regions can I deploy to on American Cloud?"

Claude will ask permission to use the American Cloud tools the first time, then list your available regions.

Enable resource management (optional)

By default the server is read-only — Claude can inspect and audit your infrastructure but cannot change it. To let Claude create and manage resources, use a read-write API key and add the --allow-writes flag:

json

"args": ["-y", "@americancloud/mcp", "--allow-writes"]

Claude Desktop will still ask for your confirmation before running tools, and destructive operations (like deleting a VM) are explicitly flagged.

Troubleshooting

Server doesn't appear after restart — validate the JSON (a trailing comma is the most common culprit), then check the MCP logs: Settings → Developer, or the log files in ~/Library/Logs/Claude/ (macOS) / %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\ (Windows).
npx not found — Claude Desktop launches the server with your system's Node.js. Make sure node --version works in a fresh terminal; if you installed Node via a version manager, you may need to provide the full path to npx in command.
Authentication errors — re-check both env values against console.americancloud.com/api-keys.

Next steps

Things to try — prompt ideas from quick audits to full provisioning
Overview — service groups, --services scoping, and safety details