How to configure the Ozeki SMS MCP Server in Claude Cowork

This guide walks you through integrating the Ozeki SMS MCP Server with Claude Cowork, a desktop productivity application from Anthropic that lets you automate file and task management workflows using plain language. By following this tutorial, you will learn how to edit the Claude Cowork configuration file, add the Ozeki SMS Gateway as an MCP server, and verify the connection from the Connectors panel.

What is an MCP server?

An MCP (Model Context Protocol) server exposes tools that an AI model can call during a conversation. In this setup, the Ozeki SMS MCP Server provides SMS tools such as sending messages and listing incoming SMS. Because Claude Cowork uses a stdio-based MCP interface, the connection is established through mcp-proxy, which bridges it to the Ozeki SMS Gateway's Streamable HTTP endpoint.

Claude Cowork SMS MCP Server Overview
Claude Cowork SMS MCP Server Overview

Claude Cowork MCP server configuration

# Open: Settings -> Developer -> Edit Config -> claude_desktop_config.json
# Replace {address} with your Ozeki SMS Gateway host IP or hostname
# Replace ozk-abc123 with the API key generated for your MCP user account
"mcpServers": {
  "ozeki-sms": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
      "mcp-proxy",
      "--transport", "streamablehttp",
      "-H", "Authorization", "Bearer ozk-abc123",
      "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
    ]
  }
}

Steps to follow

We assume Ozeki SMS Gateway is already installed on your system and you have already created an MCP user account with an API key. You will also need Claude Cowork installed on your system, as well as uv, which provides the uvx command used to run mcp-proxy.

  1. Open the Claude Cowork config file
  2. Add the Ozeki SMS MCP server entry
  3. Restart Claude and verify the connection

Video tutorial

The following video shows how to add the Ozeki SMS MCP Server to Claude Cowork step-by-step.

Step 1 - Open the Claude Cowork config file

Open Claude and navigate to Settings. Select the Developer section and click Edit Config to open the configuration directory in File Explorer (Figure 1).

Click Edit Config in Developer menu in Settings
Figure 1 - Click Edit Config in the Developer menu in Settings

In the configuration directory, locate and open the claude_desktop_config.json file in a text editor such as Notepad or Visual Studio Code. This file stores all MCP server registrations for Claude Cowork (Figure 2).

Open claude_desktop_config.json in a file editor
Figure 2 - Open the claude_desktop_config.json file in a text editor

Step 2 - Add the Ozeki SMS MCP server entry

Add the Ozeki SMS MCP server entry inside the mcpServers block as shown below. Replace {address} with the IP address or hostname of your Ozeki SMS Gateway installation, and replace ozk-abc123 with the API key you generated for your MCP user account. The entry uses uvx and mcp-proxy to bridge the Streamable HTTP transport used by the gateway. Save the file after making the changes (Figure 3). 

"mcpServers": {
  "ozeki-sms": {
    "command": "uvx",
    "args": [
      "mcp-proxy",
      "--transport", "streamablehttp",
      "-H", "Authorization", "Bearer ozk-abc123",
      "http://{address}:9529/mcp"
    ]
  }
}

Add Ozeki SMS MCP server to config
Figure 3 - Add the Ozeki SMS MCP server entry to the config

Step 3 - Restart Claude and verify the connection

Restart Claude to apply the updated configuration. Claude Cowork will reload the config file on startup and attempt to connect to the registered MCP servers (Figure 4).

Restart Claude Cowork
Figure 4 - Restart Claude Cowork to apply the configuration

After Claude restarts, open the Connectors panel and confirm that ozeki-sms appears with a connected status. This confirms that the application has successfully reached your Ozeki SMS Gateway using the configured URL and API key (Figure 5).

Verify server connection from Connectors
Figure 5 - Verify the server connection from the Connectors panel

Summary

You have successfully added the Ozeki SMS MCP Server to Claude Cowork. The mcp-proxy command bridges Claude Cowork's stdio interface to the Ozeki SMS Gateway's Streamable HTTP endpoint, while the Bearer token authenticates every request. With the server connected, Claude can send and receive SMS messages through your gateway without any additional setup, simply by being asked to do so in plain language.

More information