Turso MCP Server for Claude

Overview

The Turso MCP Server is the official Model Context Protocol integration built into the Turso CLI. Running tursodb <database.db> --mcp starts a local stdio MCP server that gives Claude nine tools for working with any Turso/libSQL (SQLite-compatible) database — queries, inserts, updates, deletes, and schema management — all through natural language.

For quick prototyping without a file, tursodb --mcp creates an ephemeral in-memory database.

Key capabilities

Nine tools are exposed:

• open_database — open a different database file.
• current_database — describe the currently connected database.
• list_tables — list all tables in the database.
• describe_table — get the schema of a specific table.
• execute_query — run a read-only SELECT query.
• insert_data — insert new rows into a table.
• update_data — update existing rows.
• delete_data — delete rows from a table.
• schema_change — execute CREATE, ALTER, or DROP DDL statements.

How it compares

Turso's MCP is unique in being the only official libSQL/SQLite-compatible MCP server with in-memory database support — ideal for rapid prototyping and testing AI-driven database workflows.

Installation

Claude Code

# Connect to a database file
claude mcp add my-database -- tursodb ./my-app.db --mcp

# Or use an in-memory database
claude mcp add in-memory-db -- tursodb --mcp

Claude Desktop

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-database": {
      "command": "tursodb",
      "args": ["./path/to/database.db", "--mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Multiple databases

Add multiple MCP entries with different names and database paths to switch between databases.

Requirements

• Turso CLI (install via brew install tursodatabase/tap/turso or from turso.tech).
• A Turso/libSQL database file (or use in-memory mode).
• An MCP client (Claude Code or Claude Desktop).

Security

• Provide only the minimum database access Claude needs; use a read-only database copy if write operations are not required.
• In-memory databases are ephemeral — they do not persist after the MCP server exits.
• Never connect the MCP server to a database containing production credentials or sensitive PII without appropriate access controls.

Source Verification Notes

Verified on 2026-06-18:

• The official Turso repository github.com/tursodatabase/turso is the authoritative source for the tursodb --mcp command and the built-in MCP server.
• Turso's MCP documentation at docs.turso.tech/agentfs/guides/mcp documents the Claude Code installation command, in-memory database option, and the nine tool categories.
• Turso's blog announcement describes the --mcp flag behavior and Claude integration pattern.
• Claude Code's MCP documentation describes the -- separator pattern used above.