Custom MCP connectors should render description and icons from server metadata

Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Apr 7, 2026 by Justin3546 Closed Apr 10, 2026

Summary

Custom MCP connectors on claude.ai/customize/connectors don't render the description or icons fields from MCP server metadata, even though the server sends them correctly during initialization. First-party connectors (Box, Airtable, etc.) show a description and custom icon, but custom connectors just show the server URL and a generic icon.

Current behavior

  • First-party connectors (e.g., Box) show: custom icon, description text, "Interactive" badge
  • Custom MCP connectors show: generic icon, server URL only, "CUSTOM" badge
  • The MCP server's description and icons fields (per MCP spec) are ignored by the UI

Expected behavior

The connector detail panel for custom MCP servers should render:

  1. The description field from the server's initialize response (shown below the server URL, same placement as first-party connector descriptions)
  2. The icons array from the server's initialize response (shown in the sidebar list and detail header)

These fields are part of the MCP ServerInfo schema and are already being sent by custom servers.

Why it matters

For custom MCP servers with a settings/admin page (e.g., https://my-server.example.com/settings), the description field is the natural place to surface that URL. Without it, users have no way to discover the settings page from the connector UI.

Screenshots

First-party connector (Box) — shows description and icon:
!Box connector

Custom MCP connector — no description, generic icon:
!Custom connector

(Screenshots omitted — the difference is visible on any claude.ai account with both a first-party and custom connector installed.)

Environment

  • claude.ai web app (desktop, macOS)
  • MCP SDK @modelcontextprotocol/sdk@1.28.0
  • Server correctly sends description, title, and icons in ServerInfo

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