How Do I Connect Raycast to an MCP Server?

What Raycast can do with an MCP server

Yes, Raycast supports MCP. It talks to servers two ways: HTTP for remote servers, and Standard Input/Output for local ones it launches itself. Both are installed and managed from inside the launcher. Once connected, Raycast AI can use whatever tools the server offers. Connected to a knowledge base like Hjarni, Raycast can:

Search

Find the right note by keyword or topic, from one hotkey

Read

Pull a note's full content into whatever you are writing

Create

Capture a thought as a note without opening a browser

Organize

Tag notes, file them in folders, add links

Follow instructions

Read your custom AI instructions and apply them to every response

The specific capabilities depend on the MCP server. Each server exposes its own set of tools.

In practice that looks like: hit the hotkey mid-email and ask for the customer's last interview summary, dictate a thought and have it filed in the right folder, or pull the deploy runbook into a chat without switching apps.

What you need

• Raycast with Raycast AI available on your account. MCP servers ride on Raycast AI. Raycast has moved its AI entitlements around more than once, between Pro, free allowances, and bring-your-own-key, so check what your own account has rather than assuming. If the Install MCP Server command is missing, that is the thing to look at.
• The MCP server you want to connect. A remote URL like https://hjarni.com/mcp, or a local command Raycast can launch. The server itself can be free: Hjarni's free plan includes its MCP server.

Install the server

1. Trigger Raycast and search for Install MCP Server. If you already have other servers, Manage MCP Servers > Install New Server gets you to the same form.
2. Set the name. This is what you will @-mention, so keep it short (e.g. hjarni)
3. Paste the server URL (e.g. https://hjarni.com/mcp)
4. Pick HTTP as the transport
5. Leave the OAuth type on Dynamic so Raycast handles the sign-in
6. Raycast opens the server's OAuth page in your browser. Sign in and approve.

That is the whole setup: no config file, no restart.

Local servers

For an MCP server that runs on your own machine, pick Standard Input/Output as the transport instead of HTTP. Raycast then launches the process itself, so the form asks for a command and its arguments rather than a URL:

Name:       your-server
Transport:  Standard Input/Output
Command:    npx
Arguments:  -y your-mcp-server

There is no OAuth step for a local server: it runs as you, on your machine. Remote and local servers can be installed side by side and are @-mentioned the same way.

Use it from Quick AI or AI Chat

Mention the server by name to bring its tools into a conversation: type @ followed by the name you chose, like @hjarni, in Quick AI or AI Chat, then ask your question. Raycast routes the request through the server's tools and answers from what they return.

Because Raycast is one hotkey away in every app, this turns the connected server into desktop-wide recall: the same notes Claude reads in the browser and Cursor reads in your editor, available from wherever you happen to be typing.

Verifying the connection

Trigger Raycast AI and mention the server. For example, if you connected Hjarni:

"@hjarni what notes do I have about onboarding?"

Raycast should call the server's search tool and answer from your notes. If you see the tool activity in the response, the connection is working.

Troubleshooting

Try it with Hjarni

Hjarni is a knowledge base with a built-in MCP server. Connect it to Raycast and your launcher can search, read, and capture your notes from anywhere on the desktop. The same notes every other MCP client you use reads too.

The MCP server URL is https://hjarni.com/mcp. Run Install MCP Server, paste it, sign in. Two minutes. For use cases and the full pitch, see Hjarni for Raycast.

Connect your notes