mcp-director

A lightweight MCP server that recommends and manages MCP profiles for Claude Code.

Problem

Claude Code loads all configured MCP servers at session start. With 20+ MCPs, startup is slow — but you only use 2-3 per session.

Solution

mcp-director stays as your only always-on MCP. Tell it what you want to do, and it recommends the right MCPs and switches your .mcp.json profile.

Install

Add mcp-director to your project's .mcp.json (create the file in your project root if it doesn't exist):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-director": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-director"]
    }
  }
}

Then start (or restart) your Claude Code session. mcp-director will be available as an MCP tool.

Note: No global install needed. npx downloads and runs it automatically.

Usage

Once Claude Code starts with mcp-director configured, just talk to Claude naturally:

1. Initialize — Import your existing MCPs

"Run the init tool"

This reads your current .mcp.json and imports all MCPs into .mcp-director/catalog.json so the director knows about them.

2. Get recommendations

"I want to create meeting notes"

Claude will call recommend and suggest relevant MCPs (e.g. whisper, notebooklm-mcp) along with matching profiles.

"I need to do some web research"

Use smart mode for LLM-assisted matching:

"Recommend MCPs for building a dashboard, use smart mode"

3. Switch profiles

"Apply the development profile"

This rewrites your .mcp.json to only include github, context7, and playwright. A backup is saved as .mcp.json.bak.

"Show me what the design profile would look like" (dry-run)

4. Restart session

Changes to .mcp.json take effect on the next Claude Code session start.

5. Create custom profiles

"Create a profile called 'data-work' with filesystem and sequential-thinking"

"Add exa to the research profile"

Tools

Tool	Description
recommend	Suggest MCPs for a task (supports smart mode for LLM-assisted matching)
apply_profile	Switch .mcp.json to a profile (with backup and dry-run)
list_profiles	Show available profiles and current state
create_profile	Create a custom profile
update_profile	Add/remove MCPs from a profile
delete_profile	Remove a custom profile
init	Import existing .mcp.json into director catalog

Profiles

Built-in profiles:

Profile	MCPs
minimal	Director only
development	GitHub + Context7 + Playwright
research	Exa + Context7 + Sequential Thinking
meeting-notes	Whisper + NotebookLM + Filesystem
communication	Slack + Google Calendar + Linear
design	Figma + Playwright
automation	n8n + Filesystem
full	All MCPs enabled

Create your own with create_profile.

Bundled Catalog

16 popular MCPs are included out of the box:

github playwright context7 memory filesystem sequential-thinking slack figma linear whisper notebooklm-mcp exa google-calendar screenpipe n8n-mcp

Add your own MCPs by running init or editing .mcp-director/catalog.json.

How It Works

• Bundled catalog of popular MCPs with keywords, categories, and capabilities
• init imports your existing MCPs into a local .mcp-director/catalog.json
• recommend scores MCPs against your task description
• apply_profile rewrites .mcp.json (with .mcp.json.bak backup)
• Director always preserves itself in .mcp.json

License

MIT