Claude Desktop MCP integration

Connect ParlayAPI to Claude Desktop and turn the chat into a sports-betting analyst. Live odds, player props, best line, consensus, one-call bet verdicts, parlay grading, best-bets discovery, cross-book arb scans, Pinnacle-anchored +EV plays and middles all become tools Claude can call directly. CLV grading and SGP pricing are available over REST at /v1/clv and /v1/sgp/price.

1 Install the MCP server

pip install parlayapi-mcp

Confirm:

parlayapi-mcp --version

2 Get a free API key

Sign up at /signup (1,000 requests/month, no credit card). Copy the pak_live_... key.

3 Locate Claude Desktop's config file

Open the config in Claude Desktop's Settings → Developer → Edit Config, or open the file directly:

OSPath
macOS~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
Windows%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json
Linux~/.config/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

4 Add parlay-api to mcpServers

Edit the JSON (create the file if it doesn't exist):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "parlay-api": {
      "command": "parlayapi-mcp",
      "env": {
        "PARLAY_API_KEY": "pak_live_..."
      }
    }
  }
}

If you already have other MCP servers, merge the parlay-api entry into the existing mcpServers object. Use absolute path for command if Claude Desktop can't find parlayapi-mcp on its PATH:

# find the absolute path in a terminal:
which parlayapi-mcp

5 Restart Claude Desktop fully

Quit (Cmd-Q on macOS, full close on Windows/Linux), reopen. You should see parlay-api show up with a hammer/tool icon in the chat input area, indicating MCP tools are available.

6 Try real prompts

List every ParlayAPI tool you have access to.
What are tonight's best +EV plays on MLB? Show the top 5 by edge.
Are there any cross-book arbs open on NBA right now? Sort by edge.
I bet Yankees -145 at 14:30 UTC today. Grade my CLV.
Source-quality check: which books are showing degraded SLA right now?

Troubleshooting

"command not found" in Claude Desktop logs

Claude Desktop launches MCP servers with a minimal PATH. Use the absolute path from which parlayapi-mcp in the command field.

"401 Unauthorized"

The PARLAY_API_KEY env value is wrong or expired. Get a fresh key at /signup and replace it.

Server starts but Claude doesn't list tools

Check ~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp.log (macOS) or the equivalent on your OS for connection errors. Common cause: invalid JSON in the config file. Validate it with jq or any JSON linter.

What Claude can do once connected

The MCP server wraps 22 high-value endpoints as typed tools. Claude's reasoning loop chains them: it can pull live odds, devig against the sharp anchor, grade a parlay leg by leg, and rank the board by edge all in one turn. Endpoints outside the tool set, including CLV history and SGP pricing, stay reachable over plain REST. See building a betting agent with Claude for four worked recipes.

Related

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