8 MCP server templates that actually work with Claude Desktop

I've been using Claude Desktop a lot lately. The MCP protocol is genuinely useful — it lets Claude talk to real tools: your GitHub, your database, your notes app. But every time I set up a new MCP server from scratch, I wasted an hour on boilerplate. So I wrote 8 templates. Here's what they do: The templates GitHub — search repos, read files, create issues. Useful when you want Claude to actually look at your code. SQLite — query any local database. Point it at your file, ask questions in plain English. Notion — search and read pages. Good for pulling in notes or docs mid-conversation. Slack — read channels, post messages. Mostly useful for summarising what happened while you were away. Linear — list and create issues. If you use Linear for project tracking, this connects it to Claude. Memory — persistent key-value store. Claude can save things between conversations. Simple but surprisingly useful. Web Search — search the web via DuckDuckGo. No API key needed. Shell — run shell command