by non-dirty
Automate Claude Desktop restarts on macOS with seamless process termination and relaunch using the Claude Desktop Restar
Lets you restart Claude Desktop on macOS directly from within Claude by typing 'restart Claude'. Useful for applying new MCP server configurations without manually closing and reopening the app.
Claude Desktop Restart is a community-built MCP server published by non-dirty that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Automate Claude Desktop restarts on macOS with seamless process termination and relaunch using the Claude Desktop Restar It is categorized under productivity, developer tools. This server exposes 1 tool that AI clients can invoke during conversations and coding sessions.
You can install Claude Desktop Restart in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
MIT
Claude Desktop Restart is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
Add new capabilities to Claude beyond text generation
Example
Access external data sources, execute code, interact with tools and services
Transform Claude from chatbot to action-taking agent
Provide Claude with access to relevant context and data
Example
Load project documentation, access knowledge bases, query databases
Get more accurate, context-aware responses
Automate multi-step workflows combining AI and external tools
Example
Research → Summarize → Create document → Send notification
Complete complex tasks end-to-end without manual steps
Share your MCP server with the developer community
Strong directory entry: Claude Desktop Restart surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.
I recommend Claude Desktop Restart for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.
We evaluated Claude Desktop Restart against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
Claude Desktop Restart is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.
According to our notes, Claude Desktop Restart benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.
Claude Desktop Restart has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
Claude Desktop Restart has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.
We evaluated Claude Desktop Restart against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
We evaluated Claude Desktop Restart against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.
Claude Desktop Restart is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.
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Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac
Using Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Claude Desktop tool installation is a bit cumbersome. The mcp-installer makes things easier by using MCP to allow you to ask Claude to install MCP tools.
Once they are installed, you still need to restart Claude Desktop to make the changes take effect... That is where mcp-server-restart comes in!
The mcp-server-restart package provides a MCP server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac.
Ask Claude Desktop "restart Claude" and it will restart the application.
The server provides a status resource:
claude://status - Returns the current status of Claude Desktop
The server implements one tool:
restart_claude - Restarts the Claude Desktop application
Installation requires editing your Claude Desktop config file on MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Option 1: Install both the mcp-installer and the mcp-server-restart packages:
Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-installer": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
]
},
"mcp-server-restart": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-restart"
]
}
}
}
Option 1: Install only the mcp-server-restart package:
Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-server-restart": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-restart"
]
}
}
}
Hey Claude, install the MCP server named mcp-server-fetch then restart Claude
Please restart Claude
Run the test suite:
pytest
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details
Prerequisites
Time Estimate
15-60 minutes depending on server complexity
Steps
Troubleshooting
✓ Do
✗ Don't
💡 Pro Tips
Architecture
Model Context Protocol standardizes how AI hosts (Claude, Cursor) communicate with external tools and data sources through server implementations.
Protocols
Compatibility
✓ Use when
Use when you need Claude to access external data, execute actions, or integrate with tools. Best for extending AI capabilities beyond conversation.
✗ Avoid when
Avoid when native integrations exist (use official APIs directly), for real-time critical systems, or when security/compliance requires zero external dependencies.