I Installed 20 MCP Servers and Everything Got Worse - Why Fewer Is Better
I Installed 20 MCP Servers and Everything Got Worse
The MCP ecosystem is exciting. There is a server for everything - file systems, databases, APIs, browsers, email, calendar. The natural instinct is to install all of them so Claude has access to everything.
This is a mistake.
The Tool Overload Problem
Claude has to parse every tool schema on every call. With 20 MCP servers, you might have hundreds of tool definitions competing for attention. Claude sees:
- 15 different "read file" tools
- 8 different "search" tools
- 12 different "create" tools
Each with slightly different parameters and capabilities. Claude spends tokens figuring out which tool to use instead of doing the actual work. Tool selection accuracy drops. Hallucinated tool calls increase. Everything gets slower.
The Fix: Strip Down to 3
When we stripped our setup from 20 servers down to 3, Claude started picking the right tool first try way more often. The three that matter for desktop automation:
- Accessibility/UI control - interact with native apps
- Browser automation - handle web tasks
- File system - read and write files
Everything else is either redundant (covered by these three) or rarely used enough that it is not worth the tool schema overhead.
The Principle
Less is genuinely more with MCP servers right now. Each additional server adds cognitive load for the agent. Only install servers you use daily. Remove everything else.
If you need a rarely-used server for a specific task, add it temporarily and remove it when done. Do not leave 20 servers running permanently "just in case."
We run 3 core MCP servers for Fazm desktop automation. Discussed in r/ClaudeCode.