
Claude Desktop Restart
Lets you restart Claude Desktop on macOS directly from within Claude by typing 'restart Claude'. Useful for applying new MCP server configurations without manually closing and reopening the app.
Enables automated restarts of Claude Desktop on macOS by leveraging psutil to safely terminate and relaunch the application process.
What it does
- Restart Claude Desktop application
- Check Claude Desktop running status
- Safely terminate existing processes
- Launch new Claude instances
Best for
About Claude Desktop Restart
Claude Desktop Restart is a community-built MCP server published by non-dirty that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Automate Claude Desktop restarts on macOS with seamless process termination and relaunch using the Claude Desktop Restar It is categorized under productivity, developer tools. This server exposes 1 tool that AI clients can invoke during conversations and coding sessions.
How to install
You can install Claude Desktop Restart in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.
License
Claude Desktop Restart is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.
Tools (1)
Restart the Claude application
mcp-server-restart
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac
Description
Using Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Claude Desktop tool installation is a bit cumbersome. The mcp-installer makes things easier by using MCP to allow you to ask Claude to install MCP tools.
Once they are installed, you still need to restart Claude Desktop to make the changes take effect... That is where mcp-server-restart comes in!
The mcp-server-restart package provides a MCP server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac.
Usage
Ask Claude Desktop "restart Claude" and it will restart the application.
Features
Resources
The server provides a status resource:
claude://status- Returns the current status of Claude Desktop- Returns JSON with running status, PID, and timestamp
- MIME type: application/json
Tools
The server implements one tool:
restart_claude- Restarts the Claude Desktop application- Safely terminates existing process if running
- Launches new instance
- Provides progress notifications during restart
Installation for Claude Desktop
Installation requires editing your Claude Desktop config file on MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Option 1: Install both the mcp-installer and the mcp-server-restart packages:
Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-installer": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
]
},
"mcp-server-restart": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-restart"
]
}
}
}
Option 1: Install only the mcp-server-restart package:
Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:
{
"mcpServers": {
"mcp-server-restart": {
"command": "uvx",
"args": [
"mcp-server-restart"
]
}
}
}
Example prompts
Hey Claude, install the MCP server named mcp-server-fetch then restart Claude
Please restart Claude
Testing
Run the test suite:
pytest
License
MIT License - see LICENSE file for details
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