Getting started

From download to your first Claude-built mission in about ten minutes.

What you need

Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit)
Claude Desktop, installed and signed in — dcs-mcp is a Claude Desktop MCP server. Both the standard installer and the Microsoft Store version of Claude Desktop work.
A free beta license key from our Discord
Internet connection for first start (license validation — after that, dcs-mcp works offline for up to 7 days at a stretch)

Get your key

Join the Discord, open #mcp-beta-downloads, and run /claim. The bot replies privately with your key (format: DCSMCP-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX). Lost it? Run /claim again — it re-shows the same key.

Install

Grab the installer from the download page and run it. No admin rights needed.

Accept the license agreement
Paste your key when asked (you can skip this and add it later, but the server won't start without one)
Finish the wizard

The installer registers dcs-mcp with Claude Desktop automatically — no config editing.

Where things land, for reference: the program lives at %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\dcs-mcp, and your data (terrain packages, license key) lives separately at %LOCALAPPDATA%\dcs-mcp. Two similar-looking folders — the second one is yours.

Windows SmartScreen note: if Windows shows "Windows protected your PC", click More info → Run anyway. New releases haven't built download reputation yet; this fades as the beta matures.

Restart Claude Desktop properly

Claude Desktop keeps running in the system tray when you close its window. Quit it fully — right-click the tray icon → Quit — then relaunch. dcs-mcp loads on this restart. The very first start takes noticeably longer than usual (one-time; Windows is scanning the new program). After that it's quick.

Build something

Open a new chat and ask for a mission. Some starters:

YOU → CLAUDE

Create a new Caucasus mission with a flight of two F/A-18Cs
on the ramp at Batumi, and a convoy heading north out of
Senaki for them to find.

YOU → CLAUDE

Give me a cold-start Huey mission at Kutaisi with troops
to pick up at a nearby FARP.

YOU → CLAUDE

Set up a two-ship A-10 mission against an SA-6 site,
with a tanker on station.

Claude plans the mission, places everything with real parking and terrain awareness, and saves a .miz you load in DCS like any other mission.

Adding more terrains

Caucasus ships with the installer. For more: Start Menu → dcs-mcp Terrain Manager. At the terrain> prompt: list shows what's installed and available, install <name> downloads and verifies a terrain, remove <name> uninstalls one. After installing a terrain, restart Claude Desktop (tray quit again) to pick it up.

Troubleshooting

Orange "Server disconnected" banner in Claude Desktop — this is dcs-mcp telling you it refused to start, and the reason is in its log: %APPDATA%\Claude\logs\mcp-server-dcs-mcp.log (Microsoft Store version of Claude Desktop: %LOCALAPPDATA%\Packages\Claude_*\LocalCache\Roaming\Claude\logs\). The message is plain-language and tells you exactly what it needs. The common ones:

"no license key found" — add your key: quickest is re-running the installer and entering it when prompted.
"license server is unreachable and no previous validation is cached" — first start needs internet. Connect once; after that you have a 7-day offline window.
"last successful validation is older than 7 days" — reconnect to the internet once; dcs-mcp revalidates automatically.
"this license key has been revoked" — beta keys retire when a new release supersedes them; grab the current release and a fresh key from Discord.

Installed but nothing happens at all (no banner, no log) — Claude Desktop probably wasn't fully quit. Check the tray, quit, relaunch.

Still stuck? #mcp-beta-downloads on Discord — include your log file and someone (often the developer) will sort you out.

Uninstalling

Start Menu → Uninstall dcs-mcp. It unregisters from Claude Desktop cleanly and asks whether to also remove your downloaded terrain and saved key.

Known limitations · Changelog · FAQ