Install Zen MCP Server in Claude Code using OpenRouter

About Zen MCP Server

https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server 

Install Zen MCP Server in Claude Code

Install manually

1. Add to Claude Desktop using: Claude Desktop > Settings > Developer > Edit Config
2. Open claude_desktop_config.json in your IDE.
3. Add this JSON code by modifying <INSERT_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE> (modify the json if there are already MCP servers added):

   {
     "mcpServers": {
       "zen": {
         "command": "sh",
         "args": [
           "-c",
           "exec $(which uvx || echo uvx) --from git+https://github.com/BeehiveInnovations/zen-mcp-server.git zen-mcp-server"
         ],
         "env": {
           "PATH": "/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin:/opt/homebrew/bin:~/.local/bin",
           "OPENROUTER_API_KEY": "INSERT_OPENROUTER_KEY_HERE"
         }
       }
     }
   }

4. Restart Claude Desktop. It should now detect ZenMCP server.
5. From Terminal, run this command and follow the steps:
   

   claude mcp add-from-claude-desktop

6. Run 'claude' on Terminal and run '/mcp' to make sure that Zen MCP is detected correctly inside Claude Code.

Install unattended (Work in progress)

To be done: These didn't work, maybe I will fix it in future (maybe!)

1. https://claudelog.com/claude-code-mcps/zen-mcp-server/
2. Adding JSON via CLI:
   

   claude mcp add-json zen-mcp '<INSERT_JSON_HERE>'

    

3. See also: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp

Run prompt to verify

Here is a sample prompt:

"Plan our microservices migration, get consensus from pro and sonnet4.5 on the approach"

As of Nov 2025:

"pro" refers to "google/gemini-2.5-pro"

and

"sonnet4.5" refers to "anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5". 

When the prompt finishes running, check Openrouter Activity screen, which should show API calls to "pro" and "sonnet4.5" models being charged to your account balance.

Miscellaneous

• Aliases in Zen MCP for popular models via Openrouter