productivitydeveloper-tools

Claude Desktop Restart

by non-dirty

Automate Claude Desktop restarts on macOS with seamless process termination and relaunch using the Claude Desktop Restar

Enables automated restarts of Claude Desktop on macOS by leveraging psutil to safely terminate and relaunch the application process.

github stars

5

macOS onlyWorks with simple voice command

best for

  • / Installing new MCP servers that require restart
  • / Applying configuration changes to Claude Desktop
  • / macOS users who frequently modify MCP setups

capabilities

  • / Restart Claude Desktop application
  • / Check Claude Desktop running status
  • / Safely terminate existing processes
  • / Launch new Claude instances

what it does

Lets you restart Claude Desktop on macOS directly from within Claude by typing 'restart Claude'. Useful for applying new MCP server configurations without manually closing and reopening the app.

about

Claude Desktop Restart is a community-built MCP server published by non-dirty that provides AI assistants with tools and capabilities via the Model Context Protocol. Automate Claude Desktop restarts on macOS with seamless process termination and relaunch using the Claude Desktop Restar It is categorized under productivity, developer tools. This server exposes 1 tool that AI clients can invoke during conversations and coding sessions.

how to install

You can install Claude Desktop Restart in your AI client of choice. Use the install panel on this page to get one-click setup for Cursor, Claude Desktop, VS Code, and other MCP-compatible clients. This server runs locally on your machine via the stdio transport.

license

MIT

Claude Desktop Restart is released under the MIT license. This is a permissive open-source license, meaning you can freely use, modify, and distribute the software.

readme

mcp-server-restart

Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac

Description

Using Model Context Protocol (MCP) for Claude Desktop tool installation is a bit cumbersome. The mcp-installer makes things easier by using MCP to allow you to ask Claude to install MCP tools.

Once they are installed, you still need to restart Claude Desktop to make the changes take effect... That is where mcp-server-restart comes in!

The mcp-server-restart package provides a MCP server for restarting Claude Desktop for Mac.

Usage

Ask Claude Desktop "restart Claude" and it will restart the application.

Features

Resources

The server provides a status resource:

  • claude://status - Returns the current status of Claude Desktop
    • Returns JSON with running status, PID, and timestamp
    • MIME type: application/json

Tools

The server implements one tool:

  • restart_claude - Restarts the Claude Desktop application
    • Safely terminates existing process if running
    • Launches new instance
    • Provides progress notifications during restart

Installation for Claude Desktop

Installation requires editing your Claude Desktop config file on MacOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Option 1: Install both the mcp-installer and the mcp-server-restart packages:

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-installer": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "@anaisbetts/mcp-installer"
      ]
    },
    "mcp-server-restart": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server-restart"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Option 1: Install only the mcp-server-restart package:

Add the following to your Claude Desktop config file:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-server-restart": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server-restart"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Example prompts

Hey Claude, install the MCP server named mcp-server-fetch then restart Claude

Please restart Claude

Testing

Run the test suite:

pytest

License

MIT License - see LICENSE file for details

FAQ

What is the Claude Desktop Restart MCP server?
Claude Desktop Restart is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server profile on explainx.ai. MCP lets AI hosts (e.g. Claude Desktop, Cursor) call tools and resources through a standard interface; this page summarizes categories, install hints, and community ratings.
How do MCP servers relate to agent skills?
Skills are reusable instruction packages (often SKILL.md); MCP servers expose live capabilities. Teams frequently combine both—skills for workflows, MCP for APIs and data. See explainx.ai/skills and explainx.ai/mcp-servers for parallel directories.
How are reviews shown for Claude Desktop Restart?
This profile displays 10 aggregated ratings (sample rows for discoverability plus signed-in user reviews). Average score is about 4.5 out of 5—verify behavior in your own environment before production use.
MCP server reviews

Ratings

4.510 reviews
  • Shikha Mishra· Oct 10, 2024

    Claude Desktop Restart is among the better-indexed MCP projects we tried; the explainx.ai summary tracks the official description.

  • Piyush G· Sep 9, 2024

    We evaluated Claude Desktop Restart against two servers with overlapping tools; this profile had the clearer scope statement.

  • Chaitanya Patil· Aug 8, 2024

    Useful MCP listing: Claude Desktop Restart is the kind of server we cite when onboarding engineers to host + tool permissions.

  • Sakshi Patil· Jul 7, 2024

    Claude Desktop Restart reduced integration guesswork — categories and install configs on the listing matched the upstream repo.

  • Ganesh Mohane· Jun 6, 2024

    I recommend Claude Desktop Restart for teams standardizing on MCP; the explainx.ai page compares cleanly with sibling servers.

  • Oshnikdeep· May 5, 2024

    Strong directory entry: Claude Desktop Restart surfaces stars and publisher context so we could sanity-check maintenance before adopting.

  • Dhruvi Jain· Apr 4, 2024

    Claude Desktop Restart has been reliable for tool-calling workflows; the MCP profile page is a good permalink for internal docs.

  • Rahul Santra· Mar 3, 2024

    According to our notes, Claude Desktop Restart benefits from clear Model Context Protocol framing — fewer ambiguous “AI plugin” claims.

  • Pratham Ware· Feb 2, 2024

    We wired Claude Desktop Restart into a staging workspace; the listing’s GitHub and npm pointers saved time versus hunting across READMEs.

  • Yash Thakker· Jan 1, 2024

    Claude Desktop Restart is a well-scoped MCP server in the explainx.ai directory — install snippets and categories matched our Claude Code setup.