Connect Visuals to Claude

Last updated: 27 June 2026

Visuals 1.1 includes an experimental MCP server. It lets you connect Claude Desktop — or any MCP-compatible client — directly to your library. You can search by caption, apply tags and color labels, mark favorites, and add comments, all through Claude. Everything runs on-device; nothing about your library leaves your Mac.

Before you start

Make sure you're running Visuals 1.1 or later, and that you have Claude Desktop installed.

Step 1 — Enable the connection in Visuals

Open Visuals, go to Settings → Connections, and turn on "Expose library to AI clients." Keep Visuals running — the connection only works while the app is open.

Step 2 — Add Visuals to your Claude config

Open your claude_desktop_config.json file and add the following inside the existing "mcpServers" block:"visuals": {
 "command": "/Applications/Visuals.app/Contents/MacOS/Visuals",
 "args": ["--mcp"]
}If you installed Visuals somewhere other than /Applications, adjust the path accordingly.

Step 3 — Restart Claude Desktop

Restart Claude Desktop. Visuals will appear as a connector and stay available as long as the main app is running. If you quit Visuals, MCP calls stop working until you reopen it.

Troubleshooting

If Claude can't connect, check that Visuals is open and that "Expose library to AI clients" is enabled in Settings → Connections. The connection depends on both.

Questions? hey@bloosoftware.com