Connector Control

Native menu bar (macOS) and system tray (Windows) apps for managing the custom MCP connectors in Claude Desktop's configuration — with automatic backups of every change they make.

Claude Desktop reads its MCP servers from claude_desktop_config.json (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ on a Mac, %APPDATA%\Claude\ on Windows), a file you otherwise maintain by hand and that Claude itself has been known to overwrite or wipe (#32345, #56296, #37286). Connector Control keeps its own master list as the source of truth, treats Claude's config as generated output, and backs up both files before every write — so a wiped or mangled config is always one click from restored.

_{Pending: equivalent Windows tray-flyout screenshots.}

Features

One-click enable/disable — toggle any connector from the menu bar or tray; changes apply to Claude's config immediately, and a Restart Required button appears until Claude is running the new config (derived from Claude's actual process launch time, so it clears no matter how Claude restarts).
Full editor — form view for the common cases (remote mcp-remote servers get a simple Name + URL form; local servers get command/args/env editors with secret masking), plus a raw JSON view with live validation and paste-a-README-snippet support. The two views stay in sync, and switching never silently loses fields the form can't represent.
Self-healing — the app watches Claude's config; if connectors vanish from it (Claude update, cloud sync, crash), a banner offers one-click restore from the master list, and a notification fires even when the app's window is closed.
Automatic backups — timestamped copies of both files before every write (configurable retention, plus a permanent first-run snapshot), with in-app restore.
Syncable — point the master list at a folder synced by git, iCloud, or Dropbox and share one connector catalog across machines; backups always stay machine-local so they never pollute the synced folder.
Missing-tool warnings — a connector that starts through npx, node, uvx or uv shows a caution glyph when that tool isn't installed where Claude Desktop can find it; the editor and Settings ▸ Claude ▸ Tools say what to install, with a download link and the brew or winget command.
Careful with secrets — connector env vars can hold API tokens, so the master list and all backups are written owner-only (mode 600 on macOS, an owner-only ACL on Windows).

The editor's two views of the same connector:

_{Form view}

_{JSON view}

Profiles

Profiles are full, independent connector snapshots — each has its own complete list of connectors and enabled flags. A chip in the header of the popover (Mac) or flyout (Windows) — <profile name> ▾ — shows the active profile and opens a menu to switch profiles, or to create, rename, or delete one. Switching applies immediately, same as any other change, and raises Restart Required just like a toggle would. New profiles start as a copy of the active profile's connectors.

The master list file (mcps.json) is v2 (profile-aware); older files from a pre-Profiles build are simply rebuilt from Claude's current config the same way any corrupted file is (see How it works). If you sync mcps.json across machines, every machine must run a Profiles-capable version — an older app can't parse the v2 file and will treat it as corrupt.

Installation

macOS

Requires macOS 14 (Sonoma) or later. The app is a universal binary (Apple Silicon + Intel), Developer ID–signed and notarized by Apple, so it runs without Gatekeeper warnings.

Download ConnectorControl_<version>.dmg from the latest release.
Open it and drag Connector Control to Applications.
Launch it — a plug icon appears in the menu bar. On first run it imports your existing connectors from Claude's config into the master list and takes a permanent snapshot of your original config.

There is no dock icon; the app lives entirely in the menu bar. Enable Launch at login in Settings (⚙︎) if you want it always available. The app checks for new releases on its own and offers each one in an update window; Settings ▸ General ▸ Updates has a switch for installing them automatically instead, and a Check for Updates… button.

Uninstalling

Quit the app, then remove:

/Applications/Connector Control.app
~/Library/Application Support/Connector Control/   # master list + backups

Your claude_desktop_config.json keeps whatever connectors were enabled at the time — the app leaves Claude's config valid on the way out.

Windows

Requires Windows 10 version 1809 (build 17763) or later, or Windows 11, on an x64 or Arm64 PC. The installer and the app are code-signed. While the publisher is new to Microsoft's SmartScreen, Windows may still show "Windows protected your PC" with the publisher named; choose More info, then Run anyway. The warning goes away as the signature earns reputation.

Download ConnectorControl-win-x64-Setup.exe (Intel and AMD PCs) or ConnectorControl-win-arm64-Setup.exe (Arm PCs) from the latest release.
Run it. It installs for the current user — no administrator prompt — under %LOCALAPPDATA%\ConnectorControl, adds a Start menu entry (no desktop icon), and launches the app.
A plug icon appears in the system tray; open the ^ overflow if Windows tucked it away there. On first run the app imports your existing connectors from Claude's config into the master list; your first change takes the permanent snapshot of the original config.

Left-click the tray icon for the connector list; right-click it for Settings… and Quit. Updates are offered, not installed silently: the app checks GitHub for new releases and shows Install and Relaunch when one is available (Settings ▸ General ▸ Updates has a switch to download and install them automatically, and a Check for Updates… button). Turn on Launch at startup there to have it always available.

Uninstalling

Settings ▸ Apps ▸ Installed apps ▸ Connector Control ▸ Uninstall removes the program (%LOCALAPPDATA%\ConnectorControl). App data is left in place; delete it yourself for a clean slate:

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Connector Control\    # master list, backups, settings

Your claude_desktop_config.json keeps whatever connectors were enabled at the time — the app leaves Claude's config valid on the way out.

How it works

~/Library/Application Support/Connector Control/
├── mcps.json          ← master list: every connector + enabled flag (source of truth)
└── backups/           ← timestamped copies of both files, rotated; machine-local
    └── claude_desktop_config.original.json   ← first-run snapshot, never pruned

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
                       ← generated output: only enabled connectors are written;
                         every other key in the file is preserved untouched

On Windows the same layout lives under %LOCALAPPDATA% (never the roaming profile, so backups stay on the machine that made them):

%LOCALAPPDATA%\Connector Control\
├── mcps.json          ← master list (source of truth)
├── settings.json      ← app settings
└── backups\           ← timestamped copies of both files, rotated; machine-local
    └── claude_desktop_config.original.json   ← first snapshot, never pruned

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json   ← generated output, as above

Every change (toggle, edit, add, remove, restore) writes the master list and regenerates the mcpServers section of Claude's config — atomically, after backing both up. A reconciliation pass runs at launch, every time the popover or flyout opens, and whenever either file changes on disk: connectors added outside the app are imported, external edits are detected (and you're notified), and connectors missing from Claude's config are flagged for restore rather than ever being silently dropped. Claude only reads its config at startup, hence the Restart Required flow.

On Windows, Restart Claude asks Claude Desktop to end its session cleanly (the same request Windows sends at sign-out) and relaunches it from its Start menu entry. Older builds of Claude Desktop kept a virtualized copy of the config under %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_…\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\; the app manages that copy only when it exists, and Settings ▸ Claude lets you point it at any file.

Settings

_General

_Storage

_Claude

General covers launch-at-login, the confirmation prompts, outside-change notifications, and updates. Storage is where the master list lives (point it at a synced folder to share connectors across machines) and how many backups to keep. Claude lets you choose which Claude app to restart and shows whether the launchers connectors depend on are installed.

Syncing across machines

Settings ▸ Storage ▸ Master List Location ▸ choose a folder inside your synced location (a git repo, iCloud Drive, OneDrive, Dropbox). The app adopts an mcps.json already there, or seeds the folder with your current list. Other machines running Connector Control point at the same folder and pick up changes live (the file is watched). Notes:

The whole file syncs — including enabled/disabled state.
Connector env vars (API keys!) sync too. Use a private repo, or keep secrets out of synced connectors.
A change that arrives through the synced folder is written into Claude's config and announced by name — which connectors it added, removed or changed — whether or not Claude is running at the time. Every connector is a command Claude runs, so treat write access to the synced folder as you would treat access to the machines that follow it.
Conflicts are your sync tool's department; local backups make any bad merge recoverable.
A Mac and a PC can share one list, but connector commands are OS-specific: a Mac writes remote connectors as npx mcp-remote …, Windows writes them as cmd /c npx mcp-remote …, and local servers carry their own paths. Each app preserves the other platform's entries untouched — an entry may simply fail to start in Claude on the other OS until you edit it there. Because cmd.exe re-parses everything after cmd /c, the Windows editor refuses a URL, header name or OAuth client field containing & | < > ^ " or a space for such a connector; use the JSON view if you really need one.

Building from source

macOS

Requires Xcode 15.4+ (Swift 5.10). Command Line Tools alone can compile the app but cannot run the test suite.

git clone https://github.com/dlaporte/connector-control.git
cd connector-control
swift test                # the full suite, no network, never touches your real config
./scripts/build-app.sh    # → build/Connector Control.app (ad-hoc signed)
cp -R "build/Connector Control.app" /Applications/

For development against a throwaway config instead of your real one:

mkdir -p .sandbox/store
cp "$HOME/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json" .sandbox/
CONNECTOR_CONTROL_CLAUDE_CONFIG="$PWD/.sandbox/claude_desktop_config.json" \
CONNECTOR_CONTROL_STORE_DIR="$PWD/.sandbox/store" \
swift run ConnectorControl

Windows

Requires the .NET SDK 10.0.400 or a later 10.0.x (windows/global.json). The solution also builds — but the app cannot run — on a Mac or Linux with the same SDK, which is how the shared Core tests run on both.

dotnet test windows/ConnectorControl.slnx          # Core + app tests, no network
dotnet run --project windows/src/ConnectorControl.App

The same CONNECTOR_CONTROL_CLAUDE_CONFIG and CONNECTOR_CONTROL_STORE_DIR overrides point a development run at a throwaway config. Installers are built by windows/scripts/package.ps1 (Velopack, vpk at the version pinned in windows/.config/dotnet-tools.json), which is also what the in-app updater consumes.

Releases are produced by .github/workflows/release.yml on version tags — both platforms from one tag, onto one GitHub release: the universal Mac build, Developer ID signing with hardened runtime, Apple notarization of both the app and the DMG, stapling, and the Sparkle appcast; and the Windows installers for x64 and Arm64, code-signed with Azure Artifact Signing and checked by a silent install on a Windows runner.

Preview builds (both apps): push a preview-<n> tag, or run Actions ▸ Preview ▸ Run workflow with a number (a dry run by default). A preview builds <next>-preview.<n>, where <next> is the top ## vX.Y.Z heading of CHANGELOG.md, signs and notarizes the Mac app and signs the Windows installers exactly like a release, and publishes them as one GitHub prerelease. Stable users are unaffected: a prerelease is never releases/latest, so the Mac update feed does not change, and a Windows preview install follows previews only. A preview-dry-<n> tag builds everything and publishes nothing. The Mac job runs in the signing environment, whose deployment branch policy must allow preview-* tags and any branch previews are cut from.

The release, preview and Windows CI workflows all call one Windows build definition, windows-build.yml, and every workflow's own YAML and shell/PowerShell scripts are linted by infra-ci.yml.

Scripts

Script	What it does	Who calls it
`scripts/build-app.sh`	Assembles `build/Connector Control.app` from the SwiftPM build products, embedding Sparkle and the app icon.	`mac-ci.yml`, `release.yml`
`scripts/make-dmg.sh`	Packages the app bundle into a drag-to-Applications DMG.	`mac-ci.yml`, `release.yml`
`scripts/test-mac.sh`	Runs the Swift suite the way CI gates it (no test may skip or fail).	`mac-ci.yml`, `release.yml`
`scripts/generate-icon.swift`	Renders the app icon — macOS `.icns` or Windows `.ico`, chosen by the output extension.	`scripts/build-app.sh`; the `.ico` path is run by hand, on a Mac
`scripts/mac/import-signing-cert.sh`	Imports the Developer ID certificate into a throwaway CI keychain.	`release.yml`
`scripts/mac/notarize.sh`	Submits a binary or app bundle for Apple notarization and staples the ticket.	`release.yml`
`scripts/mac/make-appcast.sh`	Builds and EdDSA-signs the Sparkle appcast for one release.	`release.yml`
`scripts/release/changelog-section.sh`	Prints one version's CHANGELOG.md section.	`release.yml`
`scripts/release/preview-notes.sh`	Prints the release notes for a joint preview build.	`preview.yml`
`scripts/release/ensure-release.sh`	Creates a GitHub release, or reuses one a previous run already created.	`release.yml`, `preview.yml`
`scripts/release/upload-release-assets.sh`	Uploads one build's Velopack assets to an existing release.	`release.yml`, `preview.yml`
`scripts/release/verify-release.sh`	Verifies a release's draft/prerelease flags and asset set.	`release.yml`, `preview.yml`
`windows/scripts/package.ps1`	Publishes and Velopack-packs one Windows runtime.	`windows-build.yml`
`windows/scripts/smoke-test.ps1`	Installs a packed `Setup.exe` and proves the app starts, stays up, and (with `-SignatureOnly`) is signed.	`windows-build.yml`
`windows/tools/probe-claude.ps1`	Manual diagnostic for how Claude Desktop installs and is found on a PC.	run by hand, on Windows

Scope and caveats

Manages the mcpServers section of Claude Desktop's config only — not claude.ai web connectors, Claude Desktop extensions, or Claude Code's MCP configuration.
Neither app is sandboxed: each needs to read and write Claude Desktop's config file and to quit and relaunch Claude.
Restarting Claude interrupts any in-progress conversation; the app asks first by default (Settings ▸ General).
Windows: Claude Desktop is found by its app package (Claude_pzs8sxrjxfjjc) or, for older installs, its program folder; if Claude does not come back after a restart the app says so rather than guessing.

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
.github		.github
Sources		Sources
Tests		Tests
docs/screenshots		docs/screenshots
scripts		scripts
windows		windows
.editorconfig		.editorconfig
.gitattributes		.gitattributes
.gitignore		.gitignore
CHANGELOG.md		CHANGELOG.md
LICENSE		LICENSE
Package.resolved		Package.resolved
Package.swift		Package.swift
README.md		README.md

Navigation Menu

Repository files navigation

Connector Control

Features

Profiles

Installation

macOS

Uninstalling

Windows

Uninstalling

How it works

Settings

Syncing across machines

Building from source

macOS

Windows

Scripts

Scope and caveats

License

About

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages

Latest commit

History

Folders and files

Repository files navigation

Connector Control

Features

Profiles

Installation

macOS

Uninstalling

Windows

Uninstalling

How it works

Settings

Syncing across machines

Building from source

macOS

Windows

Scripts

Scope and caveats

License

About

Topics

Resources

Stars

Watchers

Forks

Releases

Packages

Contributors

Languages