​
Prerequisites

  1. Recraft API key
    • Access it in the API section of your account Profile.
    • Note: You will need to buy API units (credits) before you can generate an API key.
  2. MCP client installed

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Option 1: Claude Desktop Extensions

You can set up the Recraft MCP server in Claude using Claude Desktop Extensions.
  1. Download mcp-recraft-server.dxt from the latest release.
  2. Double-click the file to open it with Claude Desktop Extensions.
  3. In Claude Desktop, click Install.
  4. Fill out the setup form:
    • Paste your Recraft API key obtained from your Profile API page.
    • (Optional) Specify a local path for generated image storage, or indicate that all results should be stored remotely.
  5. Enable the server.
If you encounter installation issues, make sure you have the latest version of Claude Desktop installed.

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Option 2: Smithery

  1. Find this MCP server on Smithery.
  2. Install from Smithery.
    • Note: all generation results will be stored remotely.
    • If you want to store results locally, use Claude Desktop Extensions or manual setup instead.

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Option 3: Manual setup

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Requirements

  • Ensure Node.js is installed on your machine.
  • You will need to run npx or node commands in your terminal.

​
From NPM

  1. Open your Claude Desktop configuration file: claude_desktop_config.json.
  2. Modify the file to add the following configuration snippet (replace with your API key and desired settings):
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "recraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@recraft-ai/mcp-recraft-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RECRAFT_API_KEY": "<YOUR_RECRAFT_API_KEY>",
        "IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY": "<YOUR_IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY>",
        "RECRAFT_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE": "<YOUR_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE_INDICATOR>"
      }
    }
  }
}
Perfect — here’s your parsed version rewritten as a clean Manual Setup section for the MCP guide. I kept it in the same structured, instructional style as the rest of the guide:

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Manual setup

To set up the Recraft MCP server manually, you will need Node.js installed so you can run npx or node commands in your terminal. If you don’t already have Node.js, download it from nodejs.org.

​
From NPM

  1. Open your claude_desktop_config.json file.
  2. Add the following configuration block, replacing the placeholders with your details:
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "recraft": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@recraft-ai/mcp-recraft-server@latest"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RECRAFT_API_KEY": "<YOUR_RECRAFT_API_KEY>",
        "IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY": "<YOUR_IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY>",
        "RECRAFT_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE": "<YOUR_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE_INDICATOR>"
      }
    }
  }
}

​
From source

  1. Clone the repository: 
    git clone https://github.com/recraft-ai/mcp-recraft-server.git
  2. Navigate into the cloned directory and build the project: 
    npm install
npm run build
  3. Modify your claude_desktop_config.json file with the following configuration: 
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "recraft": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "<ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_CLONED_DIRECTORY>/dist/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "RECRAFT_API_KEY": "<YOUR_RECRAFT_API_KEY>",
        "IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY": "<YOUR_IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY>",
        "RECRAFT_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE": "<YOUR_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE_INDICATOR>"
      }
    }
  }
}

​
Environment variables

You can configure the following parameters in the env section:
  • RECRAFT_API_KEY (required) Your Recraft API key.
  • IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY (optional) Local directory to store generated images. Defaults to: 
    $HOME_DIR/.mcp-recraft-server
    This value is ignored if RECRAFT_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE="1".
  • RECRAFT_REMOTE_RESULTS_STORAGE (optional) Set to "1" to store all generated images remotely. In this case, only URLs are returned and IMAGE_STORAGE_DIRECTORY is ignored.