Connect LM Studio to Willder

A desktop app for running local models, with MCP support from 0.3.17.

Transport: Streamable HTTP through a pinned mcp-remote@0.14.3 stdio bridge · Auth: Authorization: Bearer <capability token>, read from the bridge's environment · Endpoint: https://willder.ai/api/mcp

Half of this row is verified, and the two halves are different claims. The server's half passes: on 2026-10-05, against deployed commit 2eed3f05, npx tsx scripts/mcp-client-probe.ts --client=lm-studio --transport-only reached https://willder.ai/api/mcp using the pinned mcp-remote@0.14.3 command, argv and env block on this page, over stdio, and the initialisation sequence, tools/list and one scoped memory_query all answered, with an absent token and a wrong token both refused. The client's half is unrun. Nobody has run this client against Willder, so nothing here claims it works. Why: LM Studio is a desktop app, and its MCP panel is only visible in its own window. That needs a person's run recorded in manual-runs.json, naming who ran it, when, and on which commit — see the index.

Get a token

Issue a capability token from Access → Tokens for the narrowest scope you need. The value is shown once. These clients do not document environment interpolation inside headers, which is why the bridge is used: the bridge reads the token from its own env block, so the token lives in one place instead of being pasted into a header string.

export WILLDER_TOKEN='<your capability token>'

Config

~/.lmstudio/mcp.json — reach it from Program → Install → Edit mcp.json. The on-disk path is not stated in the documentation; use the in-app editor if it differs.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "willder": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote@0.14.3", "https://willder.ai/api/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}"],
      "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "Bearer <your capability token>" }
    }
  }
}

Why a bridge

mcp-remote@0.14.3 is a stdio MCP server that forwards to a remote Streamable HTTP endpoint. It is pinned to an exact version so an upstream change cannot silently alter how these clients connect, and it is the only extra component — there is no Willder-specific binary to install.

There is deliberately no space after Authorization: in the --header argument: several clients do not escape spaces inside args, and mcp-remote expands ${AUTH_HEADER} from the process environment itself, so the token never appears in the command line.

Verify the connection

The MCP panel lists willder and its tools; ask the loaded model a question that needs memory_query and confirm the tool-call plugin fires.

Notes

LM Studio also accepts a remote url with headers. Environment interpolation there is unverified, so the bridge keeps the token out of the header string.

See the index for the other clients and mcp/README.md for the tool surface and the token rules.