How to Add MCP Servers to Raycast on Mac

To add an MCP server to Raycast on a Mac, open the Manage MCP Servers command, press Cmd + N, and register the server's launch command — custom MCP servers are a Raycast Pro feature. The fastest way to make that worthwhile is LMCP, a free local MCP server that gives Raycast AI 188+ tools for the apps already on your Mac: Mail, Calendar, Messages, Finder, Notes, Reminders, Contacts, Microsoft Teams, Excel and more. Everything runs locally over stdio — no API keys, no OAuth, no cloud middleman — and setup takes about two minutes.

Why Add MCP Servers to Raycast?

Raycast is the launcher Mac power users live in: one keystroke and you are searching, switching, calculating. Raycast AI brings a chat model into that same window — but out of the box, the model can only talk. It cannot see your inbox, your calendar, or your files.

MCP (Model Context Protocol) is what closes that gap. An MCP server exposes real actions — “search my email”, “list today's events”, “find that PDF” — as tools the AI can call. Add one to Raycast and Quick AI stops being a chatbot and starts being an assistant that operates your Mac.

The catch is that most MCP servers cover a single app, so a useful setup means installing and maintaining five or six of them. LMCP takes the opposite approach: one signed installer, one server, 188+ tools across ~24 app domains — and the same install also serves Claude Desktop, Cursor and VS Code, so Raycast is not a separate setup.

What You Will Need

• macOS 12 (Monterey) or later — Apple Silicon or Intel
• Raycast with Raycast Pro — custom MCP servers are an AI (Pro) feature
• Node.js — Raycast launches LMCP with npx over stdio
• LMCP — free, installs in about 30 seconds (next step)

You do not need API keys, OAuth tokens, or accounts for any of the connected apps. LMCP talks to Mail.app, Calendar, Messages and the rest through native macOS APIs, so whatever is already set up on your Mac is what your AI gets.

Step 1: Install LMCP on Your Mac

In any terminal (macOS 12+):

curl -fsSL 'https://local-mcp.com/install?ref=guide-raycast-mac' | bash

Or download the app and run the installer. Either way, Local MCP appears in your menu bar and desktop clients like Claude Desktop and Cursor are configured automatically.

On first use, macOS will ask you to grant permission for LMCP to access each app (Mail, Calendar, and so on). Click “Allow” — that per-app consent is the security model: nothing is accessible until you approve it.

Step 2: Add LMCP to Raycast

1. Open Raycast and run the Manage MCP Servers command.
2. Press Cmd + N to add a server, then paste this JSON:

{
  "command": "npx",
  "args": ["-y", "local-mcp@latest"]
}

Submit the form. Raycast launches the server over stdio using npx, which is why Node.js needs to be installed. The @latest tag means Raycast always starts the current release — there is nothing to update by hand.

Step 3: Try It Out

Open Raycast AI (Quick AI or an AI Chat) and ask:

List my email accounts

Raycast calls the tool on your Mac and returns the result without leaving the launcher. From there, try the prompts people actually use:

• “Summarize my unread emails” — a triage of your inbox in the launcher window.
• “What is on my calendar today?” — reads Calendar.app directly.
• “Find the PDF about the Q3 contract in my Downloads” — searches your real files.
• “Send a message to Ana saying I am running 10 minutes late” — drafts an iMessage and shows it to you before sending.
• “What did I miss in Teams this morning?” — catches you up on channels and chats.

For anything that changes state — sending, moving, deleting — LMCP shows a preview and asks for confirmation first. Reading is instant; acting is always reviewed.

What Raycast AI Can Do with LMCP

One server, 188+ tools. The domains people use most from the launcher:

• Mail — list, read, search, send, reply, move messages, save attachments (any account in Mail.app: Gmail, iCloud, Outlook, Exchange, IMAP)
• Calendar — list events across calendars, create, update and delete events
• Messages — read and search iMessage conversations, send messages
• Files & Finder — search, list, read and write files and folders
• Notes & Reminders — create and search notes, manage reminder lists
• Contacts — look up people, phone numbers and addresses
• Microsoft 365 — Outlook mail and calendar, Teams channels and chats, OneDrive files
• Office documents — read and create Excel, Word and PowerPoint files; read PDFs
• WhatsApp & Slack — read, search and send where connected

Because every tool runs in the same session, Raycast AI can chain them: read an email, check your calendar for conflicts, and draft the reply — one prompt, three apps, zero window switching.

Which Accounts and Apps Work?

LMCP does not connect to services — it connects to the apps on your Mac, and inherits every account those apps already have:

• Email — every account configured in Mail.app: Gmail, iCloud, Outlook.com, Exchange / Microsoft 365, or any IMAP provider. Multiple accounts work side by side, and you can say which one to use (“send from my work email”).
• Calendar — every calendar visible in Calendar.app, including subscribed and shared ones.
• Messages — your iMessage conversations, as signed in on this Mac.
• Microsoft 365 — Outlook, Teams and OneDrive connect with your existing work account.

If you can see it on your Mac, Raycast AI can reach it — there is no separate list of “supported providers” to check, because the apps themselves are the integration.

One Server vs a Stack of Single-App Servers

Searching for MCP servers to use with Raycast turns up plenty of solid single-purpose projects — an Apple Mail server, a Calendar server, a filesystem server. They work, and if you enjoy assembling your own stack they are a fine choice. The honest comparison:

In short: pick single-purpose servers if you want a minimal, hackable setup for one app. Pick LMCP if you want the whole Mac available to Raycast AI in one two-minute install — with the same server already wired into every other MCP client you use.

Privacy: Everything Stays on Your Mac

• LMCP runs as a local server on your machine; Raycast launches it over stdio
• It reads your apps through native macOS APIs — no scraping, no cloud sync
• Tool results go from your Mac to the AI conversation you are already having — there is no intermediate LMCP cloud, and nothing is stored, cached or logged by LMCP
• Every app requires an explicit macOS permission grant before any tool can touch it

No API keys and no OAuth also means no third-party token that could leak. Your email, events and files stay where they are — in your apps, on your machine.

Getting the Most from MCP Tools in a Launcher

A launcher rewards short prompts, and short prompts sometimes leave the model unsure whether to answer from memory or call a tool. Three habits that make the difference:

• Name your data. “Check my calendar” and “search my email” signal that the answer lives on your Mac, not in the model's general knowledge.
• Chain in one prompt. The point of 188+ tools in one server is that a single request can span apps: “find the invoice email, save the attachment to Desktop, and add a reminder to pay it Friday”. Three tools, one keystroke.
• Let the preview work for you. Anything that sends, moves or deletes shows you exactly what is about to happen. Say yes fast when it is right — but read it, because that preview is the safety net that makes a launcher-speed workflow safe.

Troubleshooting

There is no “Manage MCP Servers” command

Custom MCP servers are part of Raycast AI, which requires Raycast Pro. Upgrade in Raycast Settings, then search for the command again. (LMCP itself is free — and works with free clients like Claude Desktop if you want to try it without Pro.)

The server will not start

Two usual causes: the Local MCP app is not running (check for the menu-bar icon and launch it from Applications if it is missing), or npx is not on the PATH Raycast uses. Installing Node.js from nodejs.org puts it in a standard location; after installing, remove and re-add the server entry.

A subtle variant: Node installed through nvm lives in your shell profile, which GUI apps like Raycast do not read — so npx works in your terminal and still fails from Raycast. The reliable fix is a system-wide Node install (the official installer or Homebrew).

The AI answers without using the tools

Ask something that clearly needs your data (“list my email accounts”, “what is on my calendar today?”). If the model still answers from memory, check that the LMCP entry shows as running in Manage MCP Servers and start a fresh AI chat.

Permission denied errors from a tool

macOS gates each app behind an explicit grant. Go to System Settings > Privacy & Security > Automation and make sure LMCP has access to the app the tool needs (Mail, Calendar, Messages…). The first call to each app normally triggers the prompt; if you dismissed it, this is where to fix it.

Real-World Workflows

Prompts to paste straight into Quick AI:

Inbox triage without opening Mail

The launcher becomes your morning triage: read, prioritized, and pre-drafted before you have opened a single window.

Meeting prep in one keystroke

Email, Notes and Reminders queried in one pass and condensed into a brief — the kind of cross-app chain a single-purpose server cannot do.

Find it and send it

File search plus email compose in one prompt. LMCP shows you the outgoing message for confirmation before anything is sent.

End-of-week digest

A week of scattered conversation condensed into one note — created where your notes actually live, not in a chat window you will lose.

What Else Can LMCP Do?

The same install serves every MCP client you use. See Apple Mail with Claude, Calendar without OAuth, Microsoft Teams without API keys, or the full list of guides for everything 188+ tools can reach.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I add an MCP server to Raycast?

Run the Manage MCP Servers command in Raycast, press Cmd+N, and paste { "command": "npx", "args": ["-y","local-mcp@latest"] }. Custom MCP servers require Raycast Pro.

Do I need Raycast Pro to use MCP servers?

Yes. Custom MCP servers are a Raycast AI (Pro) feature. LMCP itself is free and runs locally — and the same install works with free clients such as Claude Desktop, Cursor and VS Code.

What can Raycast AI do with LMCP?

LMCP gives Raycast AI 188+ local Mac tools: Mail, Calendar, Contacts, iMessages, Notes, Reminders, Files, Microsoft Teams, OneDrive, Office documents and more — all running on your Mac, chainable in a single prompt.

Do I need API keys or app passwords?

No. LMCP reaches your apps through native macOS APIs, so anything already configured on your Mac — every Mail account, calendar and chat — is available without keys, OAuth or passwords. macOS asks for an explicit permission grant per app.

Does my data go to the cloud?

LMCP itself sends nothing anywhere: tools execute locally and results flow into the AI conversation you are already having. The AI model behind Raycast processes what a tool returns, exactly as it processes anything you paste into the chat — nothing is stored, cached or logged by LMCP.

Ready-Made Recipes

Copy-paste workflows that use these same tools:

• Have your AI prep you for your next meeting
• Find every unanswered client request across WhatsApp, Slack, Teams & email
• Detect and resolve calendar conflicts before they bite

Related Guides

• Give Your AI Access to Email on Mac
• Connect AI to your Mac Calendar — no OAuth
• Give Cursor Access to Email, Calendar, and Contacts
• Can AI Read Your Emails Without Sending Them to the Cloud?
• Warp MCP Setup on Mac
• Zed MCP Setup on Mac
• VS Code MCP Setup on Mac