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ElevenLabs MCP for Claude Desktop: Setup & Config

Claude Desktop: ElevenLabs MCP brings the vendor's speech and audio services into assistant workflows.

What you can do with ElevenLabs in Claude Desktop

Use the official audio integration when resource delivery matters as much as generating the audio.

  • Develop character voices by requesting variants before choosing one for a voice library.
  • Convert written material into spoken audio from an assistant conversation.

Before you start: ElevenLabs in Claude Desktop

  • uv installed so the client can invoke uvx
  • ElevenLabs account credential
  • Credits available for ElevenLabs operations
  • Assistant or editor with MCP support

The launch matches the Claude Desktop quickstart. Only the API key is needed from this environment list for the basic example; the other entries describe documented options. Windows setup calls for Claude Desktop Developer Mode. If uvx cannot be found, the troubleshooting section suggests configuring its absolute executable path.

ElevenLabs Claude Desktop configuration

  1. Choose Claude Desktop configuration scope

    For ElevenLabs MCP, open macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json. Merge under mcpServers via Settings → Developer → Edit Config when available.

  2. Add ElevenLabs MCP to Claude Desktop

    Use the elevenlabs-mcp entry below in mcpServers. Keep ElevenLabs MCP's documented stdio connection fields and your other Claude Desktop entries.

  3. Check ElevenLabs MCP in Claude Desktop

    ElevenLabs MCP: Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop; check developer diagnostics.

Config file · macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

JSON
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "elevenlabs-mcp": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "elevenlabs-mcp"
      ],
      "env": {
        "ELEVENLABS_API_KEY": "<credential from your ElevenLabs account>",
        "ELEVENLABS_MCP_BASE_PATH": "<optional root used when resolving relative file paths>",
        "ELEVENLABS_MCP_OUTPUT_MODE": "<optional delivery mode: files, resources, or both>",
        "ELEVENLABS_API_RESIDENCY": "<optional region for enterprise data residency>"
      }
    }
  }
}

Troubleshooting ElevenLabs in Claude Desktop

  • Fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop for ElevenLabs MCP. If uvx elevenlabs-mcp (from uv, for Python tools) is missing, check the desktop process's PATH, which may differ from your terminal.
  • In Claude Desktop's ElevenLabs MCP entry, check ELEVENLABS_API_KEY, ELEVENLABS_API_RESIDENCY, ELEVENLABS_MCP_BASE_PATH, ELEVENLABS_MCP_OUTPUT_MODE. Keep secrets out of shared screenshots and repositories.
  • ElevenLabs MCP uses stdio here: Claude Desktop must keep the configured process running; protocol output belongs on stdout and diagnostics on stderr.
  • Known limitation: Calling the audio capabilities depends on an API credential and available ElevenLabs credits.
  • Known limitation: Regional data residency is restricted to enterprise use.
  • Known limitation: Some lengthy requests can exceed development-inspector time limits.
  • General Claude Desktop troubleshooting lives in the /clients/claude-desktop guide.

ElevenLabs MCP — details. Claude Desktop guide

Frequently asked questions

Claude Desktop loads ElevenLabs MCP from claude_desktop_config.json: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/ on macOS, or %APPDATA%\Claude\ on Windows. Open it via Settings → Developer → Edit Config when available.

Claude Desktop's elevenlabs-mcp example uses stdio.

ElevenLabs MCP's Claude Desktop configuration invokes uvx elevenlabs-mcp (from uv, for Python tools).

Claude Desktop's ElevenLabs MCP example references ELEVENLABS_API_KEY, ELEVENLABS_API_RESIDENCY, ELEVENLABS_MCP_BASE_PATH, ELEVENLABS_MCP_OUTPUT_MODE. Check these names if startup or authentication fails; the example alone does not distinguish required from optional values.

The server saves generated files and reports their paths. Relative file operations use the Desktop as their base unless configured otherwise.

Binary content is encoded as base64 in MCP resources. Text content uses UTF-8, and combined delivery also preserves disk output.