Supported clients

The server is an ordinary local tool server that talks over standard input and output, so any AI client that can start a local Windows program can use the tools. The packages below are the ones AI Power Tools supports and documents. Every Claude surface gets the server from the Claude Desktop extension and the skills from the ai-power-tools plugin on your Claude account.

Why two packages. The plugin is the one mechanism every Claude surface loads for skills, so Claude Desktop chat and Claude Cowork get their skills from it and from nothing else. They do not read %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills. The plugin carries only the skills. The server comes from the Claude Desktop extension, which one install on the machine makes available to Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork and the Code tab alike. Keep the extension installed and enabled.

Claude desktop app, Code tab

Install the extension once (Claude Desktop extension) and the plugin once on your Claude account (Claude plugin). The Code tab then has the server and the skills, named ai-power-tools:<skill-name>. Do not also install the plugin through Claude Code's own plugin commands on the same machine: in the Code tab the skills would load twice. The Code tab also reads %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills, which is why a machine that still holds skills copied by the older skills installer loads every skill twice (Moving from an older installation). Plugin changes take effect after you quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it.

Claude Desktop chat

Claude Desktop chat does not read %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills. It loads skills from plugins only, so the plugin on your account is the only way to get the skills here (Claude plugin). The server comes from the Claude Desktop extension (Claude Desktop extension), which carries the server and no skills.

Claude Code in a terminal

Claude Code in a terminal (the command line) does not load Claude Desktop extensions, so it has no AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA from the packages described here. To work in Claude Code with the server, use the Code tab of the Claude desktop app.

Claude Cowork

Claude Cowork gets the skills from the plugin on your account and the server from the Claude Desktop extension. Claude Cowork runs in the cloud by default, and the two kinds of session differ:

• A local session runs on your workstation. The extension's server, ea-mcp-server.exe, runs there and drives EA, which is installed on the same workstation. Code the assistant runs goes into an isolated virtual machine, not onto the workstation (Capabilities and surfaces).
• A cloud session runs in an isolated sandbox on Anthropic-managed infrastructure. Local MCP servers do not run in a cloud session, so the server is not available and the session cannot reach EA. It reads only folders you have connected on the desktop, and the files it opens there are processed on Anthropic's servers (Security and data handling). In a cloud session AI Power Tools is a reading and reporting surface, not a modeling surface (Capabilities and surfaces).

For local sessions:

• The workstation needs Claude Desktop running with the extension enabled, and a working EA install.
• The server must run in the same Windows environment as EA.
• Claude Desktop silently drops a server whose settings include a required option with no default value. Every option on the shipped extension's Configure screen has a default, and a repackaged extension must keep it that way (Enterprise fleet deployment).

To confirm both halves arrived in a local Claude Cowork session, ask for a skill by name and call ping, then get_repository_info (Verifying an installation). If the session offers no AI Power Tools tool, it is probably a cloud session.

VS Code with GitHub Copilot

Copilot Chat in Agent mode uses the server through VS Code's built-in tool support. The package is the VS Code extension (VS Code extension), which bundles the server and registers it with VS Code. The skills are a separate plugin, installed in VS Code from the released-skills marketplace that EA: Set Up Skills adds. VS Code does not read the plugin installed for Claude. The minimum VS Code version is 1.99.

You need the extension and Agent mode: open Copilot Chat, switch to Agent mode and enable AI Power Tools for Sparx EA. The extension registers the server under that name and passes the logging and diagnostics settings to it (Settings).

Other clients

Any client that can start a local tool server can launch ea-mcp-server.exe directly. The Claude and VS Code packages are the ones tested. Other clients get the tools but not the skills. Which of the other capabilities they provide depends on the client; see Capabilities and surfaces.