Mac Health MCP – ask Claude why your Mac is slow A developer named Swedishwizards released Mac Health MCP, a Model Context Protocol server that lets Claude Desktop, Claude Code and other MCP clients diagnose a Mac's health by answering questions such as "Why is my Mac slow?" with a ranked list of likely causes, each with a plain-language explanation, the underlying number and a suggested fix. The server is local, read-only and has zero dependencies, and ships tools including diagnose_slowness, get_mac_overview, top_processes, memory_report, disk_report, battery_report and thermal_status; it installs as a .mcpb extension that Claude Desktop runs with its own built-in Node.js, or via a claude_desktop_config.json entry or the command `claude mcp add mac-health -- node /path/to/mac-health-mcp/server/index.js`. Built-in summaries and grades are in Swedish, while Claude replies in the user's own language. Asks your Mac what's wrong and tells you in plain English. The explanation comes first, then the numbers behind it. A Model Context Protocol https://modelcontextprotocol.io server that lets Claude Desktop, Claude Code and other MCP clients check your Mac's health: uptime, memory, disk, busy processes, Spotlight, heat, battery and startup items. Ask "Why is my Mac slow?" and Claude gets a ranked list of likely causes, each with a plain explanation, the number behind it and what you can do. Local, read-only, zero dependencies. Built with Claude. The same kind of conversation as text made-up example values : You: Why is my Mac slow? Claude: I found 3 likely causes, most likely first: 1. It has been a long time since the last restart uptime 23 days . Apps and macOS slowly pile up memory and background work over time. Restart the Mac when it suits you. 2. Memory is tight memory pressure: warning, 4.2 GB swap . macOS is moving memory out to the disk, which is much slower. The apps using the most memory are ExampleBrowser 3.1 GB and DemoApp 1.8 GB . Closing tabs or apps you don't need will help. 3. One app is keeping the processor busy DemoApp at 145 % CPU in both measurements . Quit it if you don't need it right now. Free disk space, Spotlight, heat, battery health and startup items look fine. 1. Download mac-health-x.y.z.mcpb from the latest release on GitHub https://github.com/Swedishwizards/mac-health-mcp/releases/latest . 2. Double-click the file or drag it into Claude Desktop, or use Settings → Extensions → Install Extension… . 3. Click Install , then ask Claude: "Why is my Mac slow?" Claude Desktop runs the extension with its own built-in Node.js, so nothing else needs to be installed. Download or clone the repository to a permanent folder. No npm install is needed there are no dependencies . Replace /path/to/mac-health-mcp below with the real folder. git clone https://github.com/Swedishwizards/mac-health-mcp.git Claude Desktop: open Settings → Developer → Edit Config the file ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude desktop config.json and add: { "mcpServers": { "mac-health": { "command": "node", "args": "/path/to/mac-health-mcp/server/index.js" } } } Restart Claude Desktop afterwards. If Claude Desktop cannot find node , use the full path from which node for example /opt/homebrew/bin/node or /usr/local/bin/node as command . Claude Code: claude mcp add mac-health -- node /path/to/mac-health-mcp/server/index.js Any other MCP client: run node /path/to/mac-health-mcp/server/index.js as a stdio server. All tools are read-only and local. Every answer starts with a short plain-language summary, followed by the numbers as structured data. The built-in summaries and grades are in Swedish Bra = good, Okej = OK, Behöver åtgärd = needs attention, Okänd = unknown ; Claude answers you in your own language. | Tool | What it does | |---|---| | diagnose slowness | Why is my Mac slow? Likely causes ranked, each with the number behind it and what you can do details below . | | get mac overview | Health check of the whole Mac, each part graded details below . | | top processes | Which apps and processes use the most CPU and memory right now, grouped per app, with cryptic macOS names explained optional limit , 1-25 . | | memory report | Memory pressure, swap, compressed memory and file cache in plain language, with a grade. | | disk report | Free space on the startup disk with a grade, plus the largest folders in your home folder. Can take up to about 20 seconds. | | battery report | Battery health, cycles, charge state, temperature and tips, with a grade. Desktop Macs get a "no battery" answer. | | thermal status | Whether macOS is slowing the processor down because of heat, with advice. | | startup items | What starts automatically launch agents and daemons , marked as Apple or third party. Only lists, never changes. | Answers "why is my Mac slow?" with a ranked list of likely causes, each with a plain explanation, the number behind it and what you can do. | Check | Triggers when | |---|---| | Uptime | More than 14 days since the last restart | | Memory and swap | High memory pressure or more than 2 GB swap names the apps using the most memory | | Free disk | Under 10 % free on the startup disk names the largest home folders | | Single process | One process over 80 % CPU in both measurements top over about 1 s and ps averaged over about 1 min | | Spotlight | mds stores and mdworker together over 50 % CPU | | Heat | kernel task over 50 % CPU and at the same time a heat warning from macOS pmset -g therm reports a thermal or performance warning, or a CPU speed limit under 100 % | | Battery health | Under 80 % of new capacity | | Startup items | 15 or more from third parties at most three names shown | Every command runs once and is shared between the checks. A check is only called "looks good" if it could actually be made; checks that could not run are listed as unknown. Causes are likely, not certain, and nothing is ever changed. A health check of the whole Mac, each part graded, with advice when something is off: | Part | What it shows | Source | |---|---|---| | Model | Model identifier, chip, cores, memory | sysctl | | macOS | Version and build | sw vers | | Uptime | Time since last restart restart advice after 14 days | sysctl kern.boottime , fallback uptime | | CPU | Load average per core | sysctl vm.loadavg , fallback uptime | | Memory | Free %, memory pressure level, swap, breakdown | memory pressure -Q , vm stat , sysctl | | Disk | Free / total on the startup disk | df -k / | | Battery | Charge, state, health capacity vs new , cycles skipped on desktops | pmset -g batt , ioreg | | Thermal | Thermal warnings and CPU speed limit | pmset -g therm | If a command is missing, fails or times out, that part is reported as Okänd unknown instead of the whole tool failing. - Local only. Everything runs on your Mac with built-in macOS tools sysctl , sw vers , vm stat , memory pressure , df , du , top , ps , pmset , ioreg . No network requests. - No telemetry. Nothing is collected, stored or sent anywhere; the only output is the answer to your MCP client. - Read-only. Never deletes, closes or changes anything. No admin password. startup items only lists folder contents and disk report only reads sizes. - Identifiers are filtered out. Only whitelisted values are parsed, and a final filter on every answer removes serial numbers, UUIDs, hardware IDs, MAC addresses, your user name, your computer name and home folder paths shown as ~ before anything is sent to Claude. - Safe commands. Commands run without a shell, with absolute paths, a fixed locale and a timeout. - macOS. The tools rely on built-in macOS commands; on other systems every tool answers that it only works on macOS. - Node.js 18 or newer. With the .mcpb install option A Claude Desktop provides Node.js itself; for manual configuration option B Node.js 18+ must be installed. - No npm install , no dependencies. npm test runs on any OS macOS and Linux in CI with made-up command output from test/fixtures npm run pack builds dist/mac-health-