Connect Claude Desktop over MCP

Claude Desktop reads one JSON file. On macOS it is in Application Support; on Windows it is in Roaming. Create it if it is not there.

# macOS
~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

# Windows
%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

One entry. There is no API key in this file: the connection authorises through your browser, so a copied config is not a copied credential.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "persistmemory": {
      "url": "https://mcp.persistmemory.com/mcp",
      "transport": "http"
    }
  }
}

If the file already has an `mcpServers` object, add to it rather than replacing it. Pasting a whole new object is how people quietly disconnect the other servers they had set up.

Quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it. The first time it uses the server, a browser window opens asking you to approve the connection. Approving it is what ties the server to your account.

Closing the window rather than approving leaves the connection unauthorised, and the symptom is a tool that exists but answers nothing. Reconnect from Claude's settings to get the window back.

Ask Claude to remember something, then start a new conversation and ask about it. The second conversation is the test: the first one might simply still have it in context.

You: remember that the office wifi password is on the
     underside of the router

--- new conversation ---

You: where is the wifi password?
Claude: On the underside of the router. You told me that
        on 30 August.