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Profiterole
Profiterole

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9 Developer Utilities You Can Add to Claude Desktop in 30 Seconds

#mcp #ai #claude #productivity

You're in the middle of debugging. You need a UUID. Or you need to decode a JWT. Or you need to hash something. You alt-tab to a browser, find an online tool, paste your data into someone else's server, and hope it's not being logged.

There's a better way. mcp-devutils is an MCP server that gives Claude Desktop (or Cursor, or any MCP client) 44 developer tools — running locally on your machine.

What You Get (Free — 15 tools)

Tool What It Does
uuid Generate 1-10 UUIDs
hash MD5, SHA1, SHA256 hashing
hmac HMAC signatures
base64 Encode/decode base64
timestamp Convert Unix ↔ ISO 8601
jwt_decode Decode JWT payload (no verification)
random_string Generate passwords, API keys, hex strings
url_encode URL encode/decode
json_format Pretty-print or minify JSON
regex_test Test regex patterns with match details
cron_explain Explain cron expressions in plain English
color_convert Hex ↔ RGB ↔ HSL
http_status HTTP status code lookup
slugify URL-safe slug generator
html_escape HTML escape/unescape

Pro Tier — 29 More Tools ($5, One-Time)

The Pro tier unlocks the tools you need for serious work:

  • AES encryption/decryption and RSA key generation — test crypto without leaving your editor
  • JWT creation & signing — generate tokens for API testing
  • JSON diff & JSONPath query — compare payloads, extract nested values
  • CSV ↔ JSON conversion — transform data formats instantly
  • SQL format — prettify messy queries
  • CIDR calculator — subnet math without a browser
  • Text diff, chmod calculator, semver compare, password strength checker, and more

One-time purchase, lifetime access, no subscription: Get Pro →

Setup: 30 Seconds

Claude Desktop

Add this to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "devutils": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-devutils"]
    }
  }
}
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Restart Claude Desktop. Done. No global install needed — npx handles it.

Cursor

Same config in your Cursor MCP settings:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "devutils": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-devutils"]
    }
  }
}
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Usage Examples

Once connected, just ask Claude naturally:

  • "Generate 5 UUIDs for my test fixtures"
  • "Decode this JWT: eyJhbGci..."
  • "Hash this string with SHA256"
  • "What's the Unix timestamp for 2026-01-01?"
  • "Generate a 32-character URL-safe random string"
  • "Pretty-print this minified JSON"
  • "Test if this regex matches my string"

Everything runs locally. No data leaves your machine.

Why MCP Over Browser Tools?

  1. No context switching — stay in your AI assistant
  2. No data leaking — everything runs locally via Node.js
  3. No copy-paste — Claude can use the results directly in conversation
  4. Composable — "Generate a UUID, hash it with SHA256, then base64 encode the hash" works in one prompt

Install It 

npx -y mcp-devutils
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If this saves you time, consider buying me a coffee or grabbing Pro for the full 44-tool suite.

→ Full tool list, trial details and install configs for mcp-devutils

Top comments (1)

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flukestudio profile image
Luke | Fluke Studio •

Great collection. I've been using Claude Desktop with MCP servers daily and it's genuinely changed how I research businesses. I built one that looks up any UK company so you can ask Claude "is this business legit?" and it pulls back company records, Google ratings, website health and social links from 4 different sources. The stdio transport makes setup dead simple. Would love to see more curated lists like this as the MCP ecosystem grows.