Add ALT Sports Data to Claude Desktop or Claude Code — project, global, or Desktop config.

Connect to Claude

Use the tabs below for Claude Desktop (GUI app) or Claude Code (CLI agent). Claude Code includes the project-level vs global setup in a second tab row—the same “double” pattern as elsewhere in these docs.

Give Claude Desktop access to live alternative sports data with a single config change.

Open Your Config File

macOS:

open ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows:

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

If the file doesn't exist, create it.

Add the MCP Server

Paste this into your config (merge with any existing mcpServers):

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "altsportsdata": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--directory", "/path/to/altsportsdata-mcp",
        "python", "-m", "altsportsdata_mcp.server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALTSPORTSDATA_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Replace /path/to/altsportsdata-mcp with the actual path where you cloned the repo, and your_api_key with your real ALT Sports Data API key.

If you installed via pip/uv globally, you can simplify:

claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "altsportsdata": {
      "command": "altsportsdata-mcp",
      "env": {
        "ALTSPORTSDATA_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

Restart Claude Desktop

Quit and reopen Claude Desktop. Click the 🔧 tool icon in the chat input: you should see 29 ALT Sports Data tools available.

Try It

Type a natural language query:

"What WSL surfing events are happening this month? Show me the top 5 favorites for the next event."

Claude will automatically call get_events and get_favorites behind the scenes.

Troubleshooting (Desktop)

Issue	Fix
No tools visible	Make sure `uv` is in your PATH. Try running the command manually in terminal first.
"API key invalid"	Double-check `ALTSPORTSDATA_API_KEY` in the config.
Server won't start	Run `python -m altsportsdata_mcp.server` manually to see error output.
Tools loading slowly	First call may take 1-2s for cold start. Subsequent calls are fast.

Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI coding agent. It discovers MCP servers automatically from config files.

Create `.mcp.json` in Your Project Root

.mcp.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "altsportsdata": {
      "command": "uv",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--directory", "/path/to/altsportsdata-mcp",
        "python", "-m", "altsportsdata_mcp.server"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ALTSPORTSDATA_API_KEY": "your_api_key"
      }
    }
  }
}

This is the same format as Claude Desktop — one config works everywhere.

Verify

claude mcp list

You should see altsportsdata with 29 tools.

Use It

claude

Then ask:

"Get me the upcoming F1 events and the moneyline favorites for each."

Claude Code will call get_events, get_moneylines, and get_favorites automatically.

Register via CLI

claude mcp add altsportsdata \
  --command "uv" \
  --args "run" "--directory" "/path/to/altsportsdata-mcp" \
        "python" "-m" "altsportsdata_mcp.server" \
  --env ALTSPORTSDATA_API_KEY=your_api_key

Verify

claude mcp list

Output:

altsportsdata: connected (29 tools)

Use Everywhere

The server is now available in every Claude Code session — no per-project config needed.

claude "What BKFC events are live right now? Get me the odds."

Remove or Update (Claude Code)

# Remove
claude mcp remove altsportsdata

# Update (re-add with new config)
claude mcp remove altsportsdata
claude mcp add altsportsdata --command "uv" ...

What's Next?

Tools Reference → — See what all 29 tools can do
Cursor → — Use with Cursor IDE
API Reference → — Review the raw endpoint layer behind the tools

Connect to Claude

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