Use the claude mcp add command — Claude Code's built-in MCP installer wires CleenUI up in one shot.
Claude Code is Anthropic's CLI coding agent. CleenUI ships as an MCP (Model Context Protocol) server, which means once registered, every Claude Code session in any project has access to the Setup, Builder, and Theme skills. The easiest way to register is the built-in claude mcp add command, but you can also edit ~/.claude.json (user-scope) or a project-local .mcp.json by hand.
Run a version check in your terminal. If you don't have Claude Code yet, install it from claude.com/claude-code.
This is the dummy-proof option — Claude Code's CLI handles the JSON edit for you. The --scope user flag makes the server available in every project (use --scope project to limit it to the current repo).
If you prefer editing JSON directly, the user-scope config lives at ~/.claude.json. Add the cleenui entry to mcpServers — don't replace the rest of the object.
Inside a Claude Code session type /mcp to list registered servers, or run claude mcp list from your shell. cleenui should appear with three tools.
Ask Claude Code to set up CleenUI. It will detect your stack (Vite, Next.js, Remix, CRA), install dependencies, wire tokens and styles, and add a sample component.
From here, use the Builder tool any time you want a new screen, form, or feature. It knows the full component catalog and composes idiomatic CleenUI JSX.
Run your dev server. If you see the sample <Button /> rendering with CleenUI's typography and brand colors, the setup tool succeeded.
Fully quit and relaunch Claude Code — the MCP config is loaded at startup. If it still doesn't show, run 'claude mcp list' from your shell to see whether the registration actually persisted.
The npx process couldn't start. Confirm Node 18+ is on your PATH ('node --version'). If you use nvm, make sure the active version is set before launching Claude Code.
Make sure you launched Claude Code from a shell where 'npm install' works without sudo. Avoid sudo'd Claude sessions — npx can't write to a system-owned node_modules.
Two paths to your first component. Pick the one that fits how your team builds.
One prompt to your AI tool. The Setup skill handles dependencies, design tokens, build config, and component registration — all without leaving your editor.
The classic flow. Install the package, import the styles, drop in your first component. No agents required — same end result.