One brain, many arms — spawn multiple specialized Claude Code agents as MCP servers
Setup
Choose your client, copy the config, then fill in any required environment variables.
claude mcp add claude-octopus --env ANTHROPIC_API_KEY='<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>' -- npx -y claude-octopus~/.codex/config.toml
[mcp_servers.claude-octopus]
command = "npx"
args = ["-y", "claude-octopus"]
env = { ANTHROPIC_API_KEY = "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>" }
# codex mcp add claude-octopus --env ANTHROPIC_API_KEY='<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>' -- npx -y claude-octopus~/.cursor/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"claude-octopus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"claude-octopus"
],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.vscode/mcp.json
{
"servers": {
"claude-octopus": {
"type": "stdio",
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"claude-octopus"
],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}~/.gemini/settings.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"claude-octopus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"claude-octopus"
],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}claude_desktop_config.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"claude-octopus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"claude-octopus"
],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}.trae/mcp.json
{
"mcpServers": {
"claude-octopus": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"claude-octopus"
],
"env": {
"ANTHROPIC_API_KEY": "<ANTHROPIC_API_KEY>"
}
}
}
}Environment variables
ANTHROPIC_API_KEY
Replace the placeholders with your own credentials and keep them out of version control.