LM Studio is now an MCP Host

Summary

LM Studio 0.3.17 introduces Model Context Protocol (MCP) support, allowing you to connect your favorite MCP servers to the app and use them with local models. LM Studio supports both local and remote MCP servers. You can add MCPs by editing the app's mcp.json file or via the new "Add to LM Studio" Button, when available. Also new in this release: Support for 11 new languages, thanks to our community localizers. LM Studio is now available in 33 languages. Many bug fixes, as well as improvements to the UI, including a new theme: 'Solarized Dark'. Add MCP servers to LM Studio Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a set of interfaces for providing LLMs access to tools and other resources. It was originally introduced by Anthropic, and is developed on Github. Terminology: "MCP Server": program that provides tools and access to resources. For example Stripe, GitHub, or Notion make MCP servers. "MCP Host": applications (like LM Studio or Claude Desktop) that can connect to MCP servers, and make their resources available to models. Install new servers: mcp.json Switch to the "Program" tab in the right hand sidebar. Click Install > Edit mcp.json. This will open the mcp.json file in the in-app editor. You can add MCP servers by editing this file. Edit mcp.json using the in-app editor LM Studio currently follows Cursor's mcp.json notation. Example MCP to try: Hugging Face MCP Server This MCP server provides access to functions like model and dataset search. { "mcpServers": { "hf-mcp-server": { "url": "https://huggingface.co/mcp", "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer <YOUR_HF_TOKEN>" } } } } You will need to replace <YOUR_HF_TOKEN> with your actual Hugging Face token. Learn more here. Be cautious Never install MCPs from untrusted sources. Some MCP servers can run arbitrary code, access your local files, and use your network connection. Always be cautious when installing and using MCP servers. If you don't trust the source, don't install it. When a model calls a tool, LM Studio will ...