How to add CentralMind Gateway to Claude Desktop

Auto-generate a secure, LLM-optimized MCP server or REST API for your database in minutes. Paste the config into ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json and restart Claude Desktop.

Last updated June 14, 2026 · 529★ · stdio · no auth · official

Claude Desktop config for CentralMind Gateway

docker run --platform linux/amd64 ghcr.io/centralmind/gateway:v0.2.18 start

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "centralmind-gateway": {
      "command": "PATH_TO_GATEWAY_BINARY",
      "args": [
        "start",
        "--config",
        "PATH_TO_GATEWAY_YAML_CONFIG",
        "mcp-stdio"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Setup steps

1Open Claude Desktop → Settings → Developer → Edit Config (this opens ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json).
2Paste the CentralMind Gateway config below under the top-level "mcpServers" key.
3Fill in any placeholder secrets (API keys, paths) in the snippet.
4Save the file, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.
5Open a chat and confirm CentralMind Gateway's tools appear under the 🔌 tools menu.

Before you start

A supported database (PostgreSQL, MySQL, ClickHouse, Snowflake, MSSQL, BigQuery, Oracle, SQLite, or ElasticSearch) with a connection string
The gateway binary (built from source with Go, or run via the ghcr.io/centralmind/gateway Docker image)
An AI provider API key for the discovery stage (OpenAI, Anthropic, Amazon Bedrock, Google Gemini, or Google Vertex AI) — e.g. GEMINI_API_KEY
A generated gateway.yaml configuration file (produced by the `gateway discover` command)

What CentralMind Gateway can do in Claude Desktop

<dynamically generated per endpoint>

Gateway does not expose a fixed set of MCP tools. During the `discover` stage, an LLM generates a gateway.yaml in which each database endpoint is given an `mcp_method` (with summary, description, SQL query, and params). Those generated methods become the MCP tools the server exposes — for example read-only query methods over your tables. The exact tool names and descriptions depend on your database schema and the discovery prompt.

Security

The MCP server itself does not require client-side authentication in the documented stdio config; the gateway binary connects to your database using a connection string in gateway.yaml. Gateway provides PII filtering/redaction (regex or Microsoft Presidio), API key and OAuth auth for its REST/SSE endpoints, row-level security via Lua scripts, and OpenTelemetry auditing. The README notes enhanced MCP-level API key/OAuth authentication is still on the roadmap.

CentralMind Gateway + Claude Desktop FAQ

Where is the Claude Desktop config file?

Claude Desktop reads MCP servers from ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Paste the CentralMind Gateway config there under the "mcpServers" key and restart the client.

Is CentralMind Gateway safe to use with Claude Desktop?

How do I add Gateway to Claude Desktop?

Add an entry to Claude Desktop's config under mcpServers with command set to the path of the gateway binary and args ["start", "--config", "PATH_TO_GATEWAY_YAML_CONFIG", "mcp-stdio"]. You must first generate the gateway.yaml config using the `gateway discover` command.

What MCP tools does the server expose?

There is no fixed tool list. Gateway uses an LLM during the discovery stage to generate an API configuration where each endpoint maps to an mcp_method. Those generated methods are the tools exposed at runtime, so they depend entirely on your database schema and discovery prompt.

Does it support transports other than stdio?

Yes. Besides the stdio MCP server used by Claude Desktop, Gateway can run an MCP SSE server for AI agents (e.g. http://localhost:9090/sse) and a REST API with Swagger UI / OpenAPI 3.1.

View repo Full CentralMind Gateway page