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MCP Image Tools in Claude Desktop

Resize, convert, compress and watermark images, pure JavaScript. It reads PNG, JPEG, BMP, GIF and TIFF, resizes with inside, cover or exact fit, converts formats, compresses with a byte report, crops, batches thumbnails, strips metadata by re-encoding, and watermarks with the shared business name or custom text.

Give it an absolute path to the photo, the same rule every entry in this config follows, and the resized or watermarked copy lands next to the original where Finder can find it without a terminal in between.

What you get in Claude Desktop

You say	Tool
Make this 1200 px wide and under 300 KB.	`image_compress`
Thumbnail these five and watermark them.	`image_thumbnails then image_watermark`
Strip the GPS coordinates before I send this.	`image_strip_metadata`

Quantizing a 300x220 noisy PNG to 16 colours was measured against the original: 115,451 bytes against 39,262, 2.9 times larger, because quantizing destroys the row similarity PNG's own compression depends on. That is why quality only applies to a JPEG output and the extension of out_path picks the codec.

Install it in Claude Desktop

The file is claude_desktop_config.json, and the key inside it is mcpServers.

Scope	Path
macOS	`~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json`
Windows	`%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json`

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "image": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@theluckystrike/mcp-image"]
    }
  }
}

If node came from nvm, asdf or homebrew, replace "npx" with the absolute path that which npx prints:

"command": "/Users/you/.nvm/versions/node/v22.14.0/bin/npx"

Save, then completely quit Claude Desktop and start it again. A window reload is not enough.

The npm publish of @theluckystrike/mcp-image is pending; until then use the .mcpb bundle or a clone and build from the latest release.

No install: the hosted endpoint

There is no hosted endpoint for this one yet. MCP Image Tools runs locally over stdio with the config above, which is also the only form in which it reads and writes files on your own disk. Three of the servers in this collection are served at https://mcp.zovo.one/mcp/<name> over MCP streamable HTTP: time-tracker, price-tracker and invoice.

Claude Desktop notes worth knowing first

Two documented facts decide whether the entry works: every path in claude_desktop_config.json must be absolute, and a stdio server started here inherits only a limited, platform-dependent subset of environment variables. If node came from nvm or homebrew, paste what `which npx` prints instead of the bare word. The .mcpb route avoids both: Claude Desktop ships a built-in Node.js environment.

Free: info, resize, convert, compress, crop and strip-metadata on images up to 4 MP; batches of 5. Pro is $19 once, verified offline.

Questions

Where is claude_desktop_config.json?

macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json. Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. There is no published Linux path. Settings, Developer, Edit Config opens the right copy and creates it if it does not exist.

I added it and MCP Image Tools does not appear.

In order: did you fully quit and restart, not just close the window? Is every path absolute? And is the command resolvable, given the limited environment a stdio server inherits here? If node came from nvm, paste what which npx prints.

Can I install it without editing JSON?

Yes. An .mcpb bundle, the format renamed from .dxt, opens with Claude and shows an installation dialog. One you built yourself goes in through Settings, Extensions, Advanced settings, Install Extension.

MCP Image Tools in detail · The same server in Claude.ai and Claude Desktop connectors and Claude Code · Every server in Claude Desktop · Guides · Claude Desktop docs