Free tool

Zed MCP Config Generator

Paste your MCP server URL and get a config Zed will actually read — correct file, correct root key, correct transport. Nothing is uploaded.

Paste the endpoint your server is deployed at. A name is optional — it is just the label Zed shows.
Runs entirely in your browser. Nothing you paste is uploaded, stored or logged.

The config works. Nobody can still tell what your server does.

A config file gets your server connected. It does not show a customer what it is for. MCP Showcase turns the same URL into a live playground with documentation for every tool.

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How it works

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Paste your server URL

Everything happens in your browser. Your URL and any token stay on your machine.

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We use Zed's actual format

The right file, the right root key and the right way to express a remote endpoint — which differs more between clients than you would expect.

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Copy it into place

Paste the result into your config file, restart Zed, and the server appears in its tool list.

Where the Zed MCP config lives

settings.json (Zed: Open Settings)

Getting the location right matters as much as the contents. A correct config in the wrong file does nothing at all, and no client reports an error for a file it never looked at — which is why "it just does not show up" is the usual symptom rather than a message you can search for.

What Zed expects

  • Format: JSON.
  • Root key: context_servers.
  • Remote endpoint: url, connected to directly.

Zed calls them context servers

Zed's root key is "context_servers", not "mcpServers", and the naming carries through its UI and docs. Nothing copied from another client's config will be read. Zed also settled on this name before the ecosystem standardised, so older guides may not match what your version expects.

Why a generator rather than the docs

Because the ten clients people actually use disagree about all four of the things above, and every disagreement fails quietly. The root key is mcpServers in most, but servers in VS Code and context_servers in Zed. The remote endpoint is url in most, serverUrl in Windsurf and httpUrl in Gemini CLI. Two clients do not use JSON at all. A config copied between any two of them will usually parse and connect to nothing.

After the config

Restart Zed — most clients read their MCP config only at startup. If the server appears but lists no tools, the problem has moved from the config file to the server, and the MCP Inspector will show whether it completes a handshake and which transport it answers on.

Related tools

A config connects you. It does not explain anything.

Everything on this page exists to get one machine talking to one server. It does nothing for the person deciding whether your server is worth connecting in the first place — they cannot read a config file either. MCP Showcase turns the same URL into a live playground with generated documentation for every tool, so evaluating your server takes a click rather than a config file and a restart.

Frequently asked questions

The exact path is shown with the generated config below, because it differs by client and by operating system. Getting the location right matters as much as the contents: a correct config in the wrong file does nothing at all and produces no error.

Because they disagree in ways that fail silently. The root key differs (mcpServers, servers, context_servers), the key for a remote URL differs (url, serverUrl, httpUrl), and two clients do not use JSON at all. A config copied across usually parses fine and simply never connects.

No. This tool makes no network request. The config is built in your browser, nothing is stored, and you can confirm it in your browser's network tab.

Usually yes. Most clients read their MCP config at startup, so a change takes effect on the next launch. If the server still does not appear, check the file path first — that is the most common cause.

That is a connection or transport problem rather than a config-format problem. Run the URL through the MCP Inspector to confirm the server responds and to see which transport it answers on.

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