Gemini MCP Desktop Client

Gemini MCP Desktop Client is a desktop client built with Electron, Vite, React, and TypeScript, designed to interact with various Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers.
It also integrates Google's Gemini API to provide a powerful LLM chat experience.

🖼️ App Screenshot

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Features

• ⚡ Fast and Modern Stack: Built with Electron, React, Vite, and TypeScript.
• 🔌 MCP Server Integration: Connects to multiple MCP servers for diverse data operations.
• 🤖 LLM Chat Support: Uses Gemini API for LLM-based chatting.
• 🖥️ Cross-Platform: Packages for Windows (NSIS installer) and macOS (DMG).
• 🎨 Beautiful UI: Built with MUI, Emotion, Framer Motion, and other modern libraries.
• 📚 Markdown Rendering: Supports rich markdown with syntax highlighting.
• 🛠️ Developer Friendly: Full TypeScript support, ESLint, and Vite HMR.

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Setting Up Google Gemini API Key

To get started with Google Gemini API, you'll need to generate an API key. Follow the steps below to create the key and secure it for your project.

1. Obtain the API Key

To generate a Google Gemini API key, follow the official guide from Merge Dev. You can access the instructions here: Google Gemini API Key Documentation.

This documentation will walk you through the process of creating and managing your API key.

Restrict API Key (Optional but recommended)

• After copying the API key, you can click Restrict Key to limit its usage.
• You can restrict the API key to specific IP addresses, referrers, or HTTP methods to secure your API key further.z

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Installation

git clone https://github.com/duke7able/gemini-mcp-desktop-client.git
cd gemini-mcp-desktop-client
npm install

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Environment Setup

To create .env run npm run create-env for mac and unix and npm run create-env-win for windows Or simply create one like this Create a .env file in the root directory of the project with the following content:

PORT=5001 # Port for the backend API server
VITE_API_URL=http://localhost:5001
NODE_ENV="DEVELOPMENT"

Make sure to adjust VITE_API_URL if you run your backend server on a different port or domain.

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Development

To start the app in development mode:

npm run dev

This will start Vite and Electron in watch mode for live-reloading.

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Build

To create a production build:

npm run build

This will:

• Compile the TypeScript code
• Build the Vite frontend
• Package the Electron app using electron-builder

Output will be available inside the dist/ and dist-electron/ folders.

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Scripts

Script	Description
npm run dev	Start the app in development mode (Vite + Electron)
npm run build	Build the app for production
npm run preview	Preview the production Vite build
npm run lint	Run ESLint on the codebase

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Tech Stack

• Electron - Desktop application framework
• Vite - Frontend tooling and development server
• React - UI library
• TypeScript - Static typing
• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk - MCP Server interaction
• @google/generative-ai - Gemini LLM API integration
• MUI - Material UI components
• Emotion - CSS-in-JS styling
• Framer Motion - Animations
• Express - Local API server within the app
• Zod - Runtime validation
• React Router - Routing inside the app

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You can update your README.md by adding a link to the mcpServerTested.md file and a short explanation. Here’s how you can insert it in the "MCP Servers" section of your README.md:

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📌 MCP Servers

This client is designed to interact with various MCP servers listed at:
👉 Model Context Protocol - Servers

There are many MCP servers available, including third-party MCP implementations integrated into this application.
However, I have created a separate list of tested and verified MCP servers to help users identify reliable options.

👉 See the list of tested MCP servers here: mcpServerTested.md

You can configure which server to connect to from within the app settings.

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Let me know if you'd like this inserted automatically into your file or formatted differently.

Gemini API

This app uses Gemini to provide LLM-based chat inside the app.

Make sure you have your API key to configure app

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Packaging Targets

• macOS: DMG installer
• Windows: NSIS installer (x64 architecture)

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Folder Structure

/
├── dist/               # Vite frontend build output
├── dist-electron/      # Electron main process build output
├── static/             # Static assets
├── src/                # Source code (React + Electron)
├── package.json
├── vite.config.ts
└── electron-builder.yml

🧰 Enable/Disable DevTools

You can control whether DevTools are enabled in the Electron window directly from the electron/main.ts file.

In the createWindow function, modify the devTools property inside the webPreferences object to control this behavior:

devTools: false // Set to true to enable DevTools, false to disable

Additionally, you can programmatically open DevTools using:

win.webContents.openDevTools(); // Opens DevTools automatically when the app launches

Example:

function createWindow() {
  const { width, height } = screen.getPrimaryDisplay().workAreaSize;
  win = new BrowserWindow({
    width,
    height,
    icon: path.join(process.env.VITE_PUBLIC, "electron-vite.svg"),
    webPreferences: {
      webSecurity: false,
      preload: path.join(__dirname, "preload.mjs"),
      contextIsolation: true,
      nodeIntegration: true,
      devTools: false, // ✅ Change this to true or false as needed
    },
  });

  if (VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL) {
    win.loadURL(VITE_DEV_SERVER_URL);
  } else {
    win.loadFile(path.join(RENDERER_DIST, "index.html"));
  }

  // ✅ Open DevTools automatically (only works if devTools is true)
  win.webContents.openDevTools();
}

⚠️ Ensure devTools is set to true in webPreferences if you want openDevTools() to work. Otherwise, the DevTools will not open.

🔽 Download Prebuilt Installers

You can directly download and install the latest version of the Gemini MCP Desktop Client for your platform:

• 🪟 Windows Installer (MSI/EXE): Download for Windows

• 🍎 macOS (DMG): Download for macOS

Steps to make it work for mac :

• Extract zip
• move the electron app to desktop
• run this command : sudo xattr -rd com.apple.quarantine ~/Desktop/electron-mcp.app .
• then now you can move that to applications folder to be find using spotlight

These are prebuilt installers using electron-builder and are ideal for users who don’t want to build the app manually.

Notes

• Make sure to have Node.js and npm installed.
• The app is under active development — contributions and feedback are welcome!