Connect Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop can drive Brilliant, but it takes one extra piece. Brilliant serves its tools over a local web address, and Claude Desktop's config only knows how to launch local command-line servers. A tiny bridge closes that gap.

Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop installed.

• Node.js installed (the bridge runs through npx).

• Brilliant open. The MCP server only runs while the app is running.

Setup

The bridge is mcp-remote, a small adapter that lets a stdio client talk to an HTTP MCP server. You point Claude Desktop at mcp-remote, and mcp-remote at Brilliant.

1. In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Developer and click Edit Config. That opens claude_desktop_config.json (~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json on macOS, %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json on Windows).

2. Add a brilliant server that runs the bridge:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "brilliant": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://127.0.0.1:3333/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

3. Save, then fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

If Brilliant reported a fallback port at startup, use 3334 or 3335 in the URL instead of 3333.

Try it

With Brilliant open, ask Claude Desktop to design:

• In Brilliant, create a simple landing page with a headline and a signup form.

• Read the current canvas in Brilliant and add a footer that matches it.

• Export the selected frame in Brilliant as PNG.

Troubleshooting

• The brilliant tools never appear. Confirm Node.js is installed (node --version in a terminal). npx needs it to fetch and run the bridge. Then fully restart Claude Desktop.

• The bridge starts but calls fail. Brilliant must be open for the endpoint to answer. Launch it, then restart Claude Desktop.

• Port mismatch. If Brilliant is on 3334 or 3335 because 3333 was busy, update the URL in the config to match, then restart.

• First launch is slow. The very first run downloads the bridge through npx; later launches reuse it and start quickly.