Add GSC PAP to Claude Desktop

Steps

1. 1

   Install Claude Desktop

   Download Claude Desktop from claude.ai/download. The installer is signed and notarized for macOS, signed for Windows. Open the app and sign in with your Anthropic account. You do not need a paid Claude plan to use MCP servers - the Free tier works.

2. 2

   Sign in to GSC PAP and copy your token

   Visit gscpap.com and click "Sign in with Google." Grant the read-only Search Console scope. After the OAuth callback, the connect page shows a one-time bearer token. Click "Copy token" - the next step needs it. If you lose it, mint a new one from /account/tokens; existing tokens stay valid.

3. 3

   Find your Claude Desktop config file

   Claude Desktop stores its MCP server config in a single JSON file. The path depends on your OS - it does not exist by default; create it if missing.

   shellCopy

   # macOS
   ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
   
   # Windows
   %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
   
   # Linux (Claude Desktop is currently macOS/Windows only)

4. 4

   Add the GSC PAP server block

   Open the config file in any text editor (TextEdit, Notepad, VS Code). Paste the block below. Replace YOUR_TOKEN with the bearer you copied in step 2. If the file already has other MCP servers, add gsc-pap as a new key inside mcpServers - do not overwrite the whole block.

   jsonCopy

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "gsc-pap": {
         "url": "https://mcp.gscpap.com/mcp",
         "headers": {
           "Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN"
         }
       }
     }
   }

5. 5

   Restart Claude Desktop and ask a question

   Quit Claude Desktop completely (Cmd+Q on macOS, right-click in tray on Windows) and reopen. The MCP server initializes during startup - takes a few seconds. Open a new chat and ask: "What sites are in my Search Console?" Claude calls list_sites and replies with your verified properties. From there: "Show me my top queries last week."

Common gotchas

• ·Token expired or 401 errors: mint a new bearer at /account/tokens. Old tokens stay valid unless you revoke them - so you can rotate without breaking other clients.
• ·Claude Desktop says "server failed to start": check that the JSON config has no trailing commas or unmatched braces. JSON is strict about syntax. Run the file through jq or jsonlint if unsure.
• ·Tools list is empty: confirm the URL is exactly https://mcp.gscpap.com/mcp (with /mcp suffix). Without /mcp the request hits the wrong endpoint and silently fails.
• ·On Windows, %APPDATA% expands to C:\Users\<you>\AppData\Roaming. The Claude folder is usually hidden - enable "Show hidden files" in File Explorer.