Top MCP Clients to Supercharge Your AI Workflows in 2025

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) standardizes how AI agents interact with external tools and data sources. To leverage MCP in your projects, you need an MCP-compatible client—an application or library that handles the JSON-RPC calls for you. This guide explores the leading MCP clients today and shows how to connect each one to your MCP server.

Figure: Top MCP Clients to Supercharge Your AI Workflows in 2025

Why Use an MCP Client?

• Consistent interface
• Rapid setup
• Focus on AI, not plumbing

Prerequisites

1. MCP server URL (HTTP or WebSocket endpoint)
2. API key or token for authentication
3. Network access to the server’s JSON-RPC interface

Engineers’ Essentials

These clients are battle-tested, integrate smoothly with popular editors, and power many production MCP deployments:

Claude Desktop

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Get started: Download the installer, then in Settings → Tools, add your MCP URL and API key.
• Highlights: Built-in “Tools” sidebar, automatic method discovery, per-tool permission prompts.

Claude Code

• Platforms: VS Code, JetBrains IDEs
• Get started: Install the official plugin, then paste your MCP endpoint under the extension’s settings.
• Highlights: Code-centric chat interface, inline editing and code execution, deep IDE integration.

Cursor

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Get started: Download from the official site, then in Settings → Integrations, enter your server URL and bearer token.
• Highlights: AI-first code editor with chat, debugging, and one-click tool calls.

Cline

• Platform: VS Code extension
• Get started: Search “Cline” in the Extensions panel, install, then open the Cline sidebar → Connect → paste your MCP URL and key.
• Highlights: File creation/editing, terminal commands, and web browsing—all from within VS Code.

Windsurf (Codeium)

• Platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux
• Get started:

  npm install -g windsurf-cli
  windsurf login
  windsurf mcp add
  

• Highlights: Agent-driven IDE overlay, event-driven workflows, native streaming JSON-RPC.

Goose CLI

• Platform: Command-line tool
• Get started:

  brew install goose-cli   # macOS
  goose auth               # configure credentials
  goose mcp connect        # follow prompts
  

• Highlights: Minimal, scriptable CLI for headless MCP calls in pipelines and CI.

Hidden Gems

These lesser-known clients pack powerful features and are worth watching in 2025:

• Continue (VS Code & JetBrains extension)
• 5ire (cross-platform AI assistant)
• Zed (modern code editor with MCP plugin)
• Copilot-MCP (community-driven VS Code extension)
• LibreChat (open-source, LLM-agnostic desktop app)
• GenAIScript (JavaScript toolkit for MCP workflows)
• Emacs mcp.el (Emacs integration)
• oterm (CLI for Ollama + MCP)
• Sourcegraph Cody (IDE plugin with MCP support)
• Witsy (lightweight desktop assistant)
• Theia AI/IDE (Eclipse Theia with MCP extension)
• Tester MCP client (Apify-based testing tool)

Pro tip: Many of these support community-driven plugins and rapid iteration—perfect for early adopters and power users.

Agent-Building Frameworks

If you’re building your own autonomous agents or pipelines, these frameworks include MCP out of the box:

• BeeAI Framework
• SpinAI
• Fast-Agent
• mcp-agent
• Microsoft Copilot (agent flows preview)
• core (OpenSumi SDK)

How to Choose the Right MCP Client

1. Editor vs. standalone?
   IDE plugins vs. desktop apps vs. CLI tools.
2. Automation level?
   Agentic platforms vs. simple command clients.
3. Language & ecosystem?
   JS/TS SDKs, Emacs integration, etc.
4. Security & compliance?
   OAuth/JWT support, fine-grained scopes, on-prem vs. cloud.

Quick Start

1. Pick one client that aligns with your daily tools.
2. Install & configure with your MCP server details.
3. Verify connectivity by calling a simple method (e.g., list_tools).
4. Build a demo: ask your AI to summarize a document, fetch calendar events, or trigger a CI job.

With the right MCP client in place, your AI assistant transforms from a passive chat companion into a fully action-capable partner—no custom integrations required.