How to Use GTH Intelligence with Claude Desktop (MCP Setup Guide)

The GTH Intelligence MCP server gives AI agents direct access to 12,373 SAMHSA-verified substance abuse treatment facilities across all 50 states. If you use Claude Desktop, you can connect it in under five minutes and start querying facility data, competitive density, and market gaps using plain language.

What You Can Do With It

Once connected, you can ask Claude questions like:

“Find all IOP facilities within 25 miles of zip code 75208”
“How many detox centers operate in the Dallas metro?”
“What levels of care are available in rural Wyoming?”
“Show me markets with the fewest MAT providers in Texas”
“Is there a gap in residential treatment capacity near Phoenix?”

Claude uses the GTH Intelligence server to pull live facility data and surface competitive intelligence that would otherwise take hours to compile manually.

Prerequisites

Claude Desktop installed on your machine (available at claude.ai/download)
Node.js 18+ installed (required for the mcp-remote package)

No API key required. The GTH Intelligence server is publicly accessible.

Step 1: Open Your Claude Desktop Config File

Claude Desktop reads MCP server configurations from a JSON file on your machine.

On Windows:

%APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json

On macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

If the file does not exist yet, create it. If it already exists, you will add to it.

Step 2: Add the GTH Intelligence Server

Add the following configuration to your claude_desktop_config.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "gth-intelligence": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://gth-mcp-server.pages.dev/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

If you already have other MCP servers configured, add the gth-intelligence block inside your existing mcpServers object alongside them.

Step 3: Restart Claude Desktop

Fully quit and relaunch Claude Desktop. MCP servers are loaded at startup — a simple window close will not pick up config changes.

On first launch after adding the server, Claude Desktop will connect to the GTH Intelligence endpoint and load the available tools. You should see a tools indicator in the chat interface confirming the connection.

Step 4: Test the Connection

Start a new conversation in Claude Desktop and try one of these prompts:

“List all US states with available treatment facility data”
“Find substance abuse treatment facilities near zip code 90210”
“What treatment program types are available and what do they mean?”

If the connection is working, Claude will use the GTH Intelligence tools to pull live data and respond with structured facility information.

Available Tools

Tool	What It Does
search_facilities	Search by zip code, radius, and treatment type. Returns facility names, locations, services, and contact info.
get_facility_detail	Pull detailed information on a specific facility by name.
list_states	List all 50 states with facility counts.
get_treatment_types	Get plain-language definitions of all treatment program types (detox, IOP, MAT, residential, etc.)

Use Cases for Treatment Operators

Market entry analysis: Query facility density by LOC type before entering a new market
Competitive mapping: Identify how many competitors operate within a defined radius of an existing or planned facility
Gap identification: Find metros with high population but low MAT or IOP coverage
Due diligence: Rapidly survey the competitive landscape for M&A targets in specific geographies

Alternative: Connect via Cursor or Windsurf

If you use Cursor or Windsurf instead of Claude Desktop, add the server via your MCP settings:

{
  "name": "GTH Intelligence",
  "url": "https://gth-mcp-server.pages.dev/mcp"
}

The server uses SSE transport and requires no authentication.

Data Source and Refresh Schedule

All facility data is sourced from SAMHSA’s Treatment Locator, filtered to substance abuse facilities only. The dataset covers 12,373 verified facilities and is refreshed monthly. For access to the full GTH Intelligence API including operator-tier competitive scoring and market gap analysis, see our API Access page.

Questions about the MCP server or API access? Reach out via our operator contact page.