Set up the Getwello MCP server with Claude Desktop

The Getwello MCP server is a tiny program that lets Claude (and other AI assistants that speak the Model Context Protocol) talk to your Circle data conversationally. Once set up, you can ask Claude things like "Has Mum checked in today?" or "Post in the Family Room that I am picking up the prescription" and it actually does it.

What you need

• A Getwello API key. See Create your first API key if you do not have one.
• Claude Desktop installed on your Mac or Windows machine. (Download here.)
• Node.js 18 or later. Most Macs have it; check by running node -v in Terminal. If you do not, install it from nodejs.org.

Step 1: Find your Claude Desktop config file

The config file lives in different places depending on your operating system:

• macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
• Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the file does not exist, create it. The folder usually already exists.

Step 2: Add the Getwello server to the config

Open the file in any text editor and paste in this JSON, replacing gw_live_... with your actual API key:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "getwello": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@getwello-app/mcp-server"],
      "env": {
        "GETWELLO_API_KEY": "gw_live_your_real_key_here"
      }
    }
  }
}

If the file already had an mcpServers object (because you have other MCP servers set up), add the getwello entry inside the existing object. Do not nest objects inside objects with the same key, that will break the JSON.

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit Claude Desktop (Cmd-Q on Mac, not just close the window) and reopen it. Claude reads the config at startup and will not pick up your changes otherwise.

Step 4: Try it

Open a new conversation in Claude. Ask it:

"List my Getwello Circles."

Claude will use the MCP server, call our API, and tell you what it finds. If you see a list of Circles, you are wired up correctly.

Things to ask Claude

The MCP server exposes sixteen tools. You don't pick the tool, Claude does, based on the way you phrase the question. Try these:

Quick reads

• "Has Mum checked in today?"
• "What's her mood been like the last month?"
• "Who's in Mum's Circle?"
• "What's saved as her GP address?"

The bigger picture

• "Give me a status summary for Mum's Circle."
• "How's her week going overall?"
• "Are there any days nobody's visiting next week?"
• "Who's visiting her this week and what gaps are there?"
• "What notifications have I had today?"
• "When does the family subscription renew?"

Family Room

• "Catch me up on the Family Room, what's been said in the last day?"
• "Post in the Family Room saying I'm bringing shopping on Saturday morning."
• "Retract that last message I posted, I had the wrong day." (Claude can only delete messages it posted via this integration.)

Calendar

• "Schedule a visit for me Friday 2pm to 4pm." (Claude will confirm details before scheduling.)
• "Cancel my Friday visit, I can't make it." (Claude can only cancel visits it scheduled, or that you scheduled.)

Claude calls the right tools automatically, summarises results conversationally, and only writes when you explicitly ask it to. Write tools are deliberately scoped: schedule on behalf of yourself only, cancel only your own visits, retract only integration messages.

Troubleshooting

"Missing GETWELLO_API_KEY"

The environment variable is not reaching the server. Quit Claude Desktop properly (Cmd-Q on Mac) and relaunch; some MCP clients do not hot-reload the config. If still no joy, double-check the JSON is valid (use jsonlint.com to validate).

"Invalid token"

Your key has been revoked or copied wrong. Open Settings → Developer API and mint a new one.

"Subscription required"

Your Circle subscription has lapsed. Resubscribe and the same key works again immediately.

"No coordinator access"

You are no longer a Coordinator of any Circle. Have a Coordinator promote you back, or sign in as a current Coordinator and mint a key from that account.

Other MCP clients

The setup is the same for Cursor (config at ~/.cursor/mcp.json) and any VS Code MCP extension. The mcpServers object shape is the same.