zen-mcp-server-199bio

Zen MCP Server NPX Wrapper

Easy-to-use NPX wrapper for Zen MCP Server - Give Claude access to multiple AI models (Gemini, OpenAI, OpenRouter, Ollama) for enhanced development capabilities.

Quick Start

npx zen-mcp-server-199bio

That's it! No Docker required. 🎉

What is Zen MCP Server?

Zen MCP Server gives Claude Desktop access to multiple AI models for:

• 🧠 Extended reasoning with Gemini 2.0 Pro's thinking mode
• 💬 Collaborative development with multiple AI perspectives
• 🔍 Code review and architectural analysis
• 🐛 Advanced debugging with specialized models
• 📊 Large context analysis (Gemini: 1M tokens, O3: 200K tokens)
• 🔄 Conversation threading - AI models maintain context across multiple calls

Features

• ✅ No Docker required - Runs directly with Python
• 🚀 Fast startup - No container overhead
• 💾 Lightweight - Minimal resource usage
• 🔧 Auto-setup - Handles Python dependencies automatically
• 📦 Virtual environment - Isolated dependencies
• 🌍 Cross-platform - Works on macOS, Windows, Linux

First Time Setup

On first run, the wrapper will:

• Check Python 3.11+ is installed
• Clone Zen MCP Server to ~/.zen-mcp-server
• Create .env file and prompt for API keys
• Set up Python virtual environment
• Install dependencies automatically

Quick Install

1. Get API Keys (at least one required)

Choose one or more:

• Gemini: Google AI Studio
• OpenAI: OpenAI Platform
• OpenRouter: OpenRouter (access to 100+ models)

2. Add to Claude Desktop

Add to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zen": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["zen-mcp-server-199bio"],
      "env": {
        "GEMINI_API_KEY": "your_gemini_key_here",
        "OPENAI_API_KEY": "your_openai_key_here",
        "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "your_openrouter_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

That's it! Just restart Claude Desktop and you're ready to go.

Location of config file:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
• Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Usage with Claude CLI

claude mcp add zen "npx" "zen-mcp-server-199bio"

Available Tools

Once configured, Claude will have access to these tools:

• zen - Default tool for quick AI consultation (alias for chat)
• chat - Collaborative development discussions
• thinkdeep - Extended reasoning (Gemini 2.0 Pro)
• codereview - Professional code review
• precommit - Pre-commit validation
• debug - Advanced debugging assistance
• analyze - Smart file and codebase analysis

Quick Usage: Just say "use zen" for quick AI consultations!

Troubleshooting

Python not found?

• macOS: brew install python@3.11
• Windows: Download from python.org
• Linux: sudo apt install python3.11

Dependencies issue?

The wrapper tries to install automatically, but if it fails:

cd ~/.zen-mcp-server
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate
pip install -r requirements.txt

API key issues?

• Check ~/.zen-mcp-server/.env has valid keys
• Ensure at least one API key is configured
• For OpenRouter, check your credits/limits

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• Node.js >= 14.0.0
• Git
• At least one API key (Gemini, OpenAI, or OpenRouter)

Why No Docker?

We removed Docker because:

• Faster startup - No container overhead
• Less resource usage - No Redis, no Docker daemon
• Simpler - Just Python and your API keys
• Same features - Conversation threading works perfectly with in-memory storage

Links

• Zen MCP Server
• MCP Zen Plus
• Model Context Protocol

License

Apache 2.0 - See LICENSE