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Getting Started with HoloViz MCP for Claude Desktop

This tutorial will guide you through installing and using HoloViz MCP with Claude Desktop. By the end, you'll have HoloViz MCP running and be able to ask Claude questions about Panel components!

What you'll learn

  • How to install HoloViz MCP
  • How to configure it with Claude Desktop
  • How to use it to get help building Panel applications
  • How to verify everything is working correctly
  • How to build your first Panel dashboard

Prerequisites

Before you begin, ensure you have:

  • Python 3.11 or newer installed on your system
  • uv package installer
  • Claude Desktop application installed (Download)

Step 1: Install HoloViz MCP

Open your terminal and install HoloViz MCP as a uv tool:

uv tool install "holoviz-mcp[pydata]"

This command installs HoloViz MCP globally, making it available for Claude Desktop to reference.

What's happening?

The uv tool manager creates an isolated environment for HoloViz MCP and installs all necessary dependencies.

The extra pydata dependencies are added to install a wide range of python data related packages. We will assume these are installed throughout this guide. You can replace them with your favorite dependencies for your own work.

Step 2: Install Chromium

Install Chromium to enable the holoviz-mcp server to take screenshots:

holoviz-mcp install chromium

📦 This downloads 300MB as it downloads the Chromium and FFMPEG engines.

Step 3: Create the Documentation Index

HoloViz MCP needs to index the HoloViz documentation to provide intelligent answers. Run:

holoviz-mcp update index

⏱️ This will take 5-10 minutes as it downloads and indexes documentation from Panel, hvPlot, and other HoloViz libraries.

Step 4: Configure Claude Desktop

Now let's configure Claude Desktop to use the HoloViz MCP server:

  1. Locate your Claude Desktop configuration file:
  2. macOS: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
  3. Windows: %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

  4. Linux: ~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

  5. Add this configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "holoviz": {
      "command": "holoviz-mcp"
    }
  }
}
  1. Save the file and restart Claude Desktop

Step 5: Verify Installation

Let's verify that HoloViz MCP is working correctly!

Check Server Connection

After restarting Claude Desktop, look for the MCP indicator (🔌) in the interface. It should show "holoviz" as a connected server.

Test with Claude

Open a chat with Claude and try these questions:

Component Discovery:

What Panel components are available for user input?

Component Details:

What parameters does the Panel Button component accept?

If Claude provides detailed, accurate answers with specific Panel component information, congratulations! HoloViz MCP is working correctly! 🎉

Step 6: Build Your First Dashboard

Now that everything is set up, let's build a simple dashboard.

Ask Claude:

Create a Panel dashboard that displays a slider and shows the square of the slider's value. Save it to app.py

Claude will provide code using HoloViz MCP's knowledge of Panel components!

Save the code to app.py and run it:

panel serve app.py --show

Your dashboard will open in your default web browser!

Step 7: Using the Display Tool

HoloViz MCP includes a powerful display tool that can render visualizations directly. Ask Claude:

Use the holoviz_display tool to show me a simple hvplot visualization of random data.

Claude will use the display tool to generate and display the visualization. See the Display System tutorial for more details.

What's Next?

Now that you have HoloViz MCP running with Claude Desktop, explore more:

Troubleshooting

Installation Issues

Problem: uv: command not found

Solution: Install uv by following the uv installation guide

Problem: Installation takes too long

Solution: This is normal! The first installation downloads many dependencies. Subsequent updates are much faster.

Configuration Issues

Problem: Claude Desktop doesn't show the MCP indicator

Solution:

  1. Check that the configuration file path is correct for your operating system
  2. Verify the JSON syntax is correct (no trailing commas, proper quotes)
  3. Restart Claude Desktop completely (quit and reopen)
  4. Check that holoviz-mcp is installed: holoviz-mcp --version

Problem: Claude doesn't recognize Panel components

Solution:

  1. Check that the documentation index completed (Step 3)
  2. Verify your configuration file is correct
  3. Restart Claude Desktop
  4. Try running the server directly in terminal: holoviz-mcp

Server Issues

Problem: MCP server won't connect

Solution:

  1. Verify Python 3.11+ is installed: python --version
  2. Check uv installation: uv --version
  3. Try running the server directly: holoviz-mcp
  4. Check the Claude Desktop logs for errors

For more help, see the Troubleshooting Guide or join the HoloViz Discord.

Summary

In this tutorial, you:

✅ Installed HoloViz MCP using uv ✅ Created the documentation index ✅ Installed Chromium ✅ Configured Claude Desktop ✅ Verified the installation ✅ Built your first Panel dashboard ✅ Learned about the display tool

You're now ready to use HoloViz MCP with Claude Desktop to accelerate your Panel development! Happy coding! 🚀