MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client

What is MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client?

MCP Desktop is an Electron-based desktop application that connects Claude to your Microsoft 365 data through the Model Context Protocol (MCP). It enables natural language access to emails, calendar events, files, and contacts with proper authentication and security, all from a native desktop experience.

How to use MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client?

Install Node.js v18+, clone the repository, install dependencies with npm install, set up an Azure App Registration with the required permissions, create a .env file with CLIENT_ID, TENANT_ID, REDIRECT_URI (set to http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback), and OPENAI_API_KEY. Start the server with npm run dev (web) or npm run dev:electron (Electron app), authenticate with Microsoft, then configure Claude Desktop by pointing to the mcp-adapter.cjs file in the Claude Desktop config. The adapter exposes the available tools to Claude automatically.

Key features of MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client

• Read, send, search, and flag emails from your inbox.
• View, create, and update calendar events; check availability.
• Browse, upload, download, and get metadata for OneDrive/SharePoint files.
• Find and search people across your organization.
• Supports natural language queries to Microsoft 365 data.
• Uses MSAL for secure OAuth 2.0 authentication with token storage in local SQLite.

Use cases of MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client

• Ask Claude to read your latest emails or search for a specific message.
• Have Claude schedule a meeting or check free/busy times in your calendar.
• Retrieve file contents or metadata from OneDrive or SharePoint without manual navigation.
• Find contact information or relevant people in your organization via natural language.

FAQ from MCP Desktop - Microsoft Cloud Platform Desktop Client

What are the prerequisites for using MCP Desktop?

You need Node.js v18+, npm v7+, a Microsoft 365 account, an Azure App Registration (with permissions for Mail.Read, Mail.Send, Calendars.Read, Calendars.ReadWrite, Files.Read, User.Read), and an OpenAI API key (for LLM integration).

Where are authentication tokens and session data stored?

Tokens and session data are stored locally in a SQLite database (mcp.sqlite) inside the data/ folder of the project.

How does timezone handling work for calendar events?

The application automatically converts timezones from IANA format (e.g., Europe/Oslo) to Windows format (e.g., W. Europe Standard Time) when sending requests to Microsoft Graph. However, Claude may override host preferences; specifying the desired timezone explicitly when scheduling events is recommended.

What transport and authentication does the server use?

The backend runs an Express server (default on localhost port 3000). Authentication uses MSAL (Microsoft Authentication Library) for OAuth 2.0 flows, with a callback URI of http://localhost:3000/api/auth/callback. The MCP adapter communicates with Claude via JSON-RPC over HTTP.

Are there any known limitations or restrictions?

The timezone conversion works in most cases, but regions with multiple timezones may produce inaccurate results if the user does not explicitly specify the desired timezone. No other limitations are documented in the README.