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Set up Claude Desktop
There are two ways in, and StoryFolder offers both:
- Let StoryFolder do it. One click inside the app writes Claude Desktop's configuration for you. Nothing to download.
- Install the extension. Download one file, double-click it, restart Claude.
The one-click route is the shorter one if you already have the connector on this computer. The extension is the shorter one on a fresh machine, because it carries everything with it.
Before you start
- Claude Desktop 0.10.0 or newer. Check Claude's menu → About. Update first if you're older.
- StoryFolder installed and open.
- Works on macOS, Windows and Linux.
Connect it from inside StoryFolder
- Open StoryFolder and go to Preferences → MCP Server, or click Connect an AI assistant in the header.
- Choose Claude Desktop.
- StoryFolder shows what it found — Node, the connector, and where Claude Desktop keeps its settings. Anything it couldn't find is named rather than guessed.
- Decide whether you want Read-only. It's a checkbox, off by default. More below.
- Click Add automatically.
- Fully quit Claude Desktop and reopen it. On a Mac, closing the window is not quitting.
StoryFolder edits Claude Desktop's settings file in place: it adds StoryFolder and leaves every other setting, and every other assistant connection you have, exactly as it was. If that file is already broken, StoryFolder refuses to write to it and tells you so, rather than replacing something it cannot read.
"Configured" is not "connected"
Claude Desktop reads its settings only when it starts. StoryFolder can be sure the setup is correct; it cannot be sure Claude has picked it up. That's why the panel says added — not active yet until you restart, and why it never claims "Connected" for Claude Desktop the way it does for the other two.
This route needs Node and the connector folder on this computer, because what it sets up points at them. If StoryFolder can't find either, it says which one is missing and the button stays disabled — see where the connector comes from.
Or install the extension
- Download the extension with the button above.
- Double-click the downloaded file. Claude opens and offers to install it.
- Claude shows a notice that the extension is unverified. That's expected — see below. Continue.
- Decide whether you want Read-only. It's a checkbox in the extension's settings, off by default.
- Confirm the install, then quit and reopen Claude. It won't see StoryFolder until you do.
The extension carries its own copy of the connector, so this route needs no separate download and no Node of your own.
Pick one route, not both
The extension installs itself into Claude Desktop's own extensions list; the one-click route writes Claude Desktop's settings instead. StoryFolder's panel can only see the second of those, so an extension can be working perfectly and the panel will still say StoryFolder isn't connected. If you installed the extension, believe the extension. Running both at once isn't something we've tested, so if you switch routes, remove the one you're leaving behind first.
Check it worked
With StoryFolder open, ask Claude:
What projects are in my StoryFolder library?
You should get your real project names back, with shot counts and durations. Then try something more interesting.
If Claude says it has no StoryFolder tools, or that StoryFolder isn't running, see troubleshooting.
Where the connector comes from
The one-click route registers a connector folder that lives on your computer. In a packaged StoryFolder install, that's a folder you download once and keep — the same one Claude Code and Codex use.
Unzip it, move it somewhere permanent (~/StoryFolder-connector, say), and reopen the panel. StoryFolder checks your home folder, Downloads, Desktop, Documents and Applications. If it still can't see it, use Locate connector folder… and point at it yourself.
If you'd rather not keep a folder around at all, use the extension instead — it has the connector inside it.
About the "unverified" notice
You'll see a message saying the extension is from an unverified publisher, with a button to install anyway.
That's expected, and it's about our paperwork rather than the file. We haven't finished setting up the credential that would let Claude confirm it's from us. It's the same extension either way. Click through and continue.
If you'd rather not install something unverified, the one-click route above installs no extension at all.
Let Claude read, but not edit
Turn on Read-only and Claude can look at everything and change nothing. Renaming, tagging, adding note fields, importing and exporting all stop being available to it — not hidden, just not offered.
- One-click route: tick the box in StoryFolder before you click Add automatically. To change it later, tick or untick and add again.
- Extension route: find it under Settings → Extensions → StoryFolder.
Restart Claude after changing it, either way.
There's more on what read-only costs you, and what it doesn't protect against, on the overview.
Using Claude on the web or your phone?
Those can't reach it. StoryFolder runs on your computer and answers only to things on that computer, so a browser tab or a phone has no way in. You need Claude Desktop.
Using Claude Code?
That's a separate product with its own setup, and StoryFolder connects it in one click too. → Set up Claude Code