Add the Gitea MCP server to Claude Desktop

Config last verified Jun 1, 2026

The exact config to run Gitea in Claude Desktop — paste it in, restart, and the tools load.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed.
GITEA_HOST — Base URL of your Gitea instance, e.g. https://gitea.com or your self-hosted host. Equivalent to the --host flag.
GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN — A Gitea personal access token. Equivalent to the --token flag.

Setup

1. Open `~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`

On Windows the file lives at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

2. Add this configuration

Add to ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gitea": {
      "command": "docker",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "-i",
        "--rm",
        "-e",
        "GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN",
        "-e",
        "GITEA_HOST",
        "docker.gitea.com/gitea-mcp-server",
        "-t",
        "stdio"
      ],
      "env": {
        "GITEA_HOST": "<GITEA_HOST>",
        "GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN": "<GITEA_ACCESS_TOKEN>"
      }
    }
  }
}

3. Restart Claude Desktop and confirm the Gitea tools load.

Gotchas

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from an "mcpServers" object, but the config file is stdio-only: it cannot dial a remote URL directly. To reach a remote server you bridge it locally by running "npx mcp-remote <url>" as the command. Native remote Connectors exist on paid plans, but not through this config file, so the bridge is the portable path.

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