Deploying Seed MCP Server

Learn how to deploy Seed MCP Server and connect it with Claude Code and Claude Desktop.

Overview

Seed can be deployed in two modes:

1. With OIDC Authentication (Recommended for production)

   • Secure, enterprise-grade authentication
   • Full OAuth 2.1 flow with PKCE
   • User identity and authorization
   • Session management

2. Without OIDC Authentication (Development only)

   • Quick setup for local development
   • No authentication overhead
   • Not recommended for production

Deployment Modes

With OIDC Authentication

Use case: Production deployments, multi-user environments, enterprise settings

Requirements:

• OIDC-compliant identity provider (Authentik, Okta, Auth0, etc.)
• Redis server for session/client storage
• HTTPS endpoint (required for OAuth)

Security: ✅ Full authentication and authorization

Setup guides:

• Deploy with OIDC → Claude Code setup
• Deploy with OIDC → Claude Desktop setup

Without OIDC Authentication

Use case: Local development, testing, personal single-user setups

Requirements:

• Minimal - just the Seed server

Security: ⚠️ No authentication - anyone with access can use the server

Setup guides:

• Deploy without OIDC → Claude Code setup
• Deploy without OIDC → Claude Desktop setup

Quick Comparison

Feature	With OIDC	Without OIDC
Authentication	✅ Full OAuth 2.1	❌ None
User Identity	✅ JWT claims	❌ Anonymous
Multi-user	✅ Yes	⚠️ Not recommended
Production Ready	✅ Yes	❌ No
Setup Complexity	Medium	Simple
Dependencies	Redis, OIDC Provider	None

Deployment Methods

Regardless of authentication mode, Seed can be deployed using:

Docker (Recommended)

docker run -d \
  --name seed \
  -p 3000:3000 \
  -e AUTH_REQUIRED=true \
  -e OIDC_ISSUER=https://auth.example.com/... \
  # ... other env vars
  seed-mcp-server:latest

See Installation for details.

Docker Compose

version: '3.8'
services:
  seed:
    image: seed-mcp-server:latest
    ports:
      - "3000:3000"
    environment:
      AUTH_REQUIRED: "true"
      # ... other env vars

See Installation for details.

From Source

npm install
npm run build
npm start

See Installation for details.

Claude Integration

Both Claude Code (CLI) and Claude Desktop can connect to Seed MCP Server:

Claude Code

Configure MCP servers in ~/.config/claude/config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "seed": {
      "url": "http://localhost:3000/mcp",
      // ... auth config
    }
  }
}

Detailed setup: With OIDC | Without OIDC

Claude Desktop

Configure MCP servers in Claude Desktop settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "seed": {
      "command": "http",
      "args": ["--url", "http://localhost:3000/mcp"],
      // ... auth config
    }
  }
}

Detailed setup: With OIDC | Without OIDC

Next Steps

Choose your deployment mode and follow the detailed guide:

• Deploy with OIDC Authentication - Recommended for production
• Deploy without OIDC Authentication - For development only

Related Documentation

• Installation - Installation methods (Docker, source, etc.)
• Configuration - Environment variables reference
• Architecture: Authentication - How authentication works
• Architecture: OAuth - OAuth 2.1 implementation details