Use Claude Desktop with Eden AI

• Models: Claude Desktop sends its model requests to Eden AI’s Anthropic-compatible endpoint instead of Anthropic, and they are billed to your Eden AI account.
• Tools: Eden AI’s MCP server gives Claude OCR, translation, speech, web search and the rest of the expert model catalog as tools.

• Chat, Cowork and Code all run on the models you configure through Eden AI.
• The app does not use your claude.ai account: your claude.ai conversations are not shown, and new conversations are stored on your computer.
• To go back to your claude.ai account, choose the Anthropic sign-in option on the sign-in screen, as described in Anthropic’s setup guide.

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Prerequisites

• Claude Desktop installed. On Windows, Cowork needs the .msix package of Claude Desktop; see Anthropic’s installation guide.
• Eden AI API key from app.edenai.run → API Keys

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Use Eden AI for the models

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1. Open the configuration window

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2. Configure the gateway

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3. Add the models

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4. Apply and restart

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5. Start a session

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Use Eden AI’s expert models as tools

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In third-party mode

1. In the configuration window (Developer → Configure Third-Party Inference), go to Connectors, and under Managed MCP servers choose Add → Blank.
2. Fill in:

   Field	Value
   Name	edenai
   Transport	Streamable HTTP
   URL	https://mcp.edenai.run/mcp
   Headers	Authorization = Bearer YOUR_EDEN_AI_API_KEY

3. Click Test this connection. It should list the Eden AI tools. Claude Desktop warns that the Authorization header looks like a credential; the warning does not block saving. On a shared or managed machine, use a headers helper instead: a command that prints the headers as a JSON object when Claude Desktop needs them.
4. Click Apply Changes, then Save & Restart.

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Signed in with a claude.ai account

1. Open Settings → Developer → Edit Config. This opens claude_desktop_config.json. Add an edenai entry under mcpServers, keeping whatever else the file already holds:
   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "edenai": {
         "command": "npx",
         "args": [
           "-y",
           "mcp-remote",
           "https://mcp.edenai.run/mcp",
           "--header",
           "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"
         ],
         "env": {
           "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer YOUR_EDEN_AI_API_KEY"
         }
       }
     }
   }
   
   Write Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER} without a space after the colon. Claude Desktop on Windows does not escape spaces inside args, which breaks the header. On Windows, this PowerShell snippet adds the entry for you to %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json, the file Edit Config opens. It saves a copy of the file first, asks for the key so it never lands in your shell history, and keeps the rest of the file. If Edit Config opens a file at a different path, put that path in $cfg:
   $cfg = "$env:APPDATA\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json"
   New-Item -ItemType Directory -Force (Split-Path $cfg) | Out-Null
   $j = [pscustomobject]@{}
   if (Test-Path $cfg) {
     Copy-Item $cfg "$cfg.bak"
     $raw = Get-Content $cfg -Raw
     if ($raw) { $j = $raw | ConvertFrom-Json }
   }
   $key = Read-Host "Eden AI API key"
   $server = [pscustomobject]@{
     command = "npx"
     args = @("-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.edenai.run/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:`${AUTH_HEADER}")
     env = [pscustomobject]@{ AUTH_HEADER = "Bearer $key" }
   }
   if (-not $j.mcpServers) { $j | Add-Member -NotePropertyName mcpServers -NotePropertyValue ([pscustomobject]@{}) }
   $j.mcpServers | Add-Member -Force -NotePropertyName edenai -NotePropertyValue $server
   [IO.File]::WriteAllText($cfg, ($j | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 100), (New-Object Text.UTF8Encoding $false))
   
2. Quit Claude Desktop completely and start it again: it reads the file only at startup, and closing the window leaves it running. On macOS, press Cmd+Q. On Windows, click the ^ arrow next to the clock, right-click the Claude icon and choose Exit.
3. In a new chat, open the + menu and switch edenai on, then ask for a translation as above.

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Troubleshooting

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”Couldn’t sign in to gateway” or “the provider rejected your credentials”

$key = Read-Host "Eden AI API key"
try {
  $r = Invoke-RestMethod -Method Post -Uri "https://api.edenai.run/v3/v1/messages" `
    -Headers @{ Authorization = "Bearer $key"; "anthropic-version" = "2023-06-01" } `
    -ContentType "application/json" `
    -Body (@{ model = "anthropic/claude-sonnet-5-5"; max_tokens = 16; messages = @(@{ role = "user"; content = "hi" }) } | ConvertTo-Json -Depth 5)
  "OK: " + $r.content[0].text
} catch { "HTTP " + $_.Exception.Response.StatusCode.value__ + " " + $_.ErrorDetails.Message }

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”Model(s) not found or inactive”

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”Couldn’t load your organization model list”

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”Reinstall the desktop app to access Cowork”

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The Eden AI tools do not appear

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Next Steps

• Claude Code: the Claude Code CLI on Eden AI, with any model in the catalog
• MCP server: the full tool catalog and how its tools work
• Prompt Caching: how caching works on the Messages endpoint