Claude Code MCP — Run Claude as Agent-in-Agent

What it is

Claude Code MCP is an MCP server that lets you run Claude Code CLI in one-shot mode inside other AI tools like Cursor, Windsurf, and Claude Desktop. It turns Claude Code into an agent inside your agent -- your primary AI tool can delegate complex file editing, git operations, and terminal commands to Claude Code without interactive permission prompts.

It is designed for developers using Cursor or Windsurf who want Claude Code's file editing and codebase understanding capabilities as a sub-agent for complex multi-file operations.

How it saves time or tokens

When your primary AI tool hits its limits on complex operations (multi-file refactors, large git diffs, cross-codebase analysis), it can hand off the task to Claude Code rather than attempting it with degraded quality. The one-shot mode avoids the overhead of interactive sessions, and results flow back to your primary tool seamlessly.

How to use

1. Install Node.js v20+ and Claude CLI
2. Accept the --dangerously-skip-permissions flag on Claude CLI
3. Add the MCP server config to your .mcp.json
4. Restart your AI tool

Example

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "claude-code-mcp": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@steipete/claude-code-mcp@latest"]
    }
  }
}

Once configured, your primary AI tool can delegate tasks:

'Use Claude Code to refactor all API handlers to use the new error format'
'Ask Claude Code to analyze the git history and summarize recent changes'
'Have Claude Code fix the failing test suite in the backend module'

Related on TokRepo

• AI Tools for Coding -- Developer productivity tools powered by AI
• AI Tools for Automation -- Automate development workflows

Common pitfalls

• The --dangerously-skip-permissions flag is required, which means Claude Code runs without confirmation prompts -- review the security implications before enabling
• Node.js v20+ is a hard requirement; older versions cause silent failures
• Each invocation starts a fresh Claude Code session, so context from previous calls is not retained between delegations