BigQuery MCP server

A Model Context Protocol server that provides access to BigQuery. This server enables LLMs to inspect database schemas and execute queries.

Components

Tools

The server implements one tool:

• execute-query: Executes a SQL query using BigQuery dialect
• list-tables: Lists all tables in the BigQuery database
• describe-table: Describes the schema of a specific table

Configuration

The server can be configured either with command line arguments or environment variables.

Argument	Environment Variable	Required	Description
--project	BIGQUERY_PROJECT	Yes	The GCP project ID.
--location	BIGQUERY_LOCATION	Yes	The GCP location (e.g. europe-west9).
--dataset	BIGQUERY_DATASETS	No	Only take specific BigQuery datasets into consideration. Several datasets can be specified by repeating the argument (e.g. --dataset my_dataset_1 --dataset my_dataset_2) or by joining them with a comma in the environment variable (e.g. BIGQUERY_DATASETS=my_dataset_1,my_dataset_2). If not provided, all datasets in the project will be considered.
--key-file	BIGQUERY_KEY_FILE	No	Path to a service account key file for BigQuery. If not provided, the server will use the default credentials.
--timeout	BIGQUERY_TIMEOUT	No	Maximum time in seconds to wait for a query to complete. If not provided, queries will wait indefinitely.

Installation

Installing via Smithery

To install BigQuery Server for Claude Desktop automatically via Smithery:

npx -y @smithery/cli install mcp-server-bigquery --client claude

Claude Code

claude mcp add bigquery --scope user --transport stdio -- uvx mcp-server-bigquery --project {PROJECT_ID} --location {{LOCATION}}

Claude Desktop

On MacOS: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
On Windows: %APPDATA%/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bigquery": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-bigquery"],
      "env": {
        "BIGQUERY_PROJECT": "{{GCP_PROJECT_ID}}",
        "BIGQUERY_LOCATION": "{{GCP_LOCATION}}"
      }
    }
  }
}

Cursor

1. Open Cursor Settings → MCP
2. Click Add new global MCP server
3. Add an entry for the BigQuery MCP, following the pattern below:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "bigquery": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-bigquery"],
      "env": {
        "BIGQUERY_PROJECT": "{{GCP_PROJECT_ID}}",
        "BIGQUERY_LOCATION": "{{GCP_LOCATION}}"
      }
    }
  }
}