Use Resend from your MCP Client

This guide shows you how to connect the Resend MCP Server to Claude Desktop.

Prerequisites

• A Resend account 
• Claude Desktop 
• Node.js  installed on your system

Retrieving the Resend API key

The Resend MCP Server needs your Resend API key to authenticate with your account.

In the Resend dashboard, click API Keys in the side bar. Then click Create API Key.

In the Add API Key dialog, enter a name for the API key, and leave the Permission and Domain fields at their defaults. The Permission and Domain settings control sending limits and domain restrictions, and the defaults allow unlimited sending from any domain, which works for development. In production, you should restrict these for security.

Click Add.

Resend will display the API key. Copy and save it to use in the MCP server configuration in Claude Desktop.

Cloning the Resend MCP project

Clone the Resend MCP project:

git clone https://github.com/resend/mcp-send-email.git
cd mcp-send-email

Build the project:

npm install
npm run build

The build command generates an index.js file in the build directory. The build compiles TypeScript source code into JavaScript that Claude Desktop can execute, and bundles dependencies so the MCP server runs standalone.

Copy the absolute path to the index.js file. You’ll need it for the Claude Desktop configuration.

Connecting the Resend MCP Server

Now add the Resend MCP Server to the Claude Desktop configuration.

In Claude Desktop, go to Settings → Developer → Edit Config.

Add the Resend configuration to the claude_desktop_config.json file that opens:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "resend": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_MCP_SEND_EMAIL_PROJECT/build/index.js"],
      "env": {
        "RESEND_API_KEY": "YOUR_RESEND_API_KEY"
      }
    }
  }
}

• Replace ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_MCP_SEND_EMAIL_PROJECT/build/index.js with the path to your project location.
• Replace YOUR_RESEND_API_KEY with your Resend API key.

Restart Claude Desktop.

Testing the connection

Test the connection by asking Claude to list the current audiences in the Resend:

Please use the Resend MCP Server to list the current audiences in my Resend account

Sending an email

Now you can ask Claude to send an email to a specific audience or email address, for example:

Please send a short welcoming email to the user example@email.com from onboarding@acme.dev.