# Claude Desktop + MCP Module: bridging the stdio/HTTP mismatch with mcp-remote

**URL:** <https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/claude-desktop-mcp-module-bridging-the-stdio-http-mismatch-with-mcp-remote/117092>\
**Category:** Ignition Early Access\
**Created:** [September 16, 2026, 6:01am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/claude-desktop-mcp-module-bridging-the-stdio-http-mismatch-with-mcp-remote/117092 "2026-09-16T06:01:00Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![alza.radfar](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/alza.radfar/32/87243_2.png) [@alza.radfar](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/alza.radfar)\
**Post date:** [September 16, 2026, 6:01am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/claude-desktop-mcp-module-bridging-the-stdio-http-mismatch-with-mcp-remote/117092/1 "2026-09-16T06:01:00Z")

</div>

**If you've set up the MCP Module (Early Access) and Claude Desktop shows "not a valid MCP server configuration" or silently drops your server entry, this is why.**

`claude_desktop_config.json` only supports local (stdio) servers, direct `url` / `type: "http"` entries get silently rejected. The example JSON in the [MCP Module Early Access](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/mcp-module-early-access/113966) thread was written for a generic MCP client, not Claude Desktop specifically.

❌ **This will be silently rejected:**

```python
"servers": {
  "ignition": {
    "url": "http://localhost:8088/data/mcp/your_project_name",
    "type": "http",
    "headers": {
      "X-Ignition-API-Token": "your-token-here"
    }
  }
}

```

✅ **Use this instead** , bridge it with `mcp-remote`, a small Node package that translates the HTTP endpoint into the stdio interface Claude Desktop expects. Still no tunnel needed, still localhost, just one extra layer. You'll need Node.js installed:

```python
"mcpServers": {
  "ignition": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": [
      "-y",
      "mcp-remote",
      "http://localhost:8088/data/mcp/your_project_name",
      "--header",
      "X-Ignition-API-Token:${IGNITION_API_TOKEN}"
    ],
    "env": {
      "IGNITION_API_TOKEN": "API_KEY_HERE"
    }
  }
}

```

`npx` will download `mcp-remote` the first time it runs, so the first launch may take a few extra seconds while it fetches the package, that's normal, not a hang. Once it connects, you'll see:

 ![image](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/original/3X/2/f/2f35539b14c322b70b40a796be30b5178cfb3d82.png)

Hope this saves someone else the debugging time, happy to help if anyone hits a different error on this path.