nREPL Setup (Claude Desktop)

You generally only need to set up and run nREPL explicitly when using Claude Desktop (or other desktop chat apps) because they start MCP servers outside your project directory.

deps.edn

Add an :nrepl alias to your project's deps.edn:

{:aliases
 {:nrepl
  {:extra-paths ["test"]
   :extra-deps {nrepl/nrepl {:mvn/version "1.3.1"}}
   :main-opts ["-m" "nrepl.cmdline" "--port" "7888"]}}}

Start the nREPL server from your project directory:

clojure -M:nrepl

Leiningen

Start an nREPL server from your project directory:

lein repl :headless :port 7888

Port Notes

• 7888 is just an example. Any open port is fine as long as you use the same port when starting ClojureMCP (for Claude Desktop).