Windsurf Setup
This is the setup guide for Windsurf. For a quick reference across all platforms, see the MCP Client Setup page.
Prerequisites
- •Windsurf — Latest version with MCP support.
- •Node.js 20+ — Required to run MCP servers. Check with
node --version. - •npm — Bundled with Node.js.
Configure MCP Server
Windsurf supports MCP servers through its configuration file. Add Data Workers to your Windsurf MCP configuration:
{ "mcpServers": { "data-workers": { "command": "npx", "args": ["dw-claw"] } } }You can also configure MCP servers through the Windsurf Settings UI if available in your version.
Verify Connection
After configuring, open the Windsurf chat and type:
List all available Data Workers tools and show me the health of my data pipelines.
You should see tools organized by agent domain — incident, quality, schema, pipeline, catalog, governance, and more.
InMemory Stubs on First Run
Without infrastructure credentials, the server starts with InMemory stub data. This is expected. Set environment variables to connect to real infrastructure.
First 5 Workflows to Try
- •Incident diagnosis: "Why did my nightly ETL pipeline fail? Check logs and provide root cause analysis."
- •Data quality check: "Run a quality assessment on analytics.orders and flag anomalies."
- •Catalog search: "Search the catalog for tables related to customer revenue."
- •Schema analysis: "Analyze the schema of staging.events and suggest improvements."
- •Pipeline health: "Show pipeline health across all orchestrators."
Environment Variables
- •
SNOWFLAKE_ACCOUNT,SNOWFLAKE_USER,SNOWFLAKE_PASSWORD— Snowflake - •
GOOGLE_CLOUD_PROJECT,GOOGLE_APPLICATION_CREDENTIALS— BigQuery / Dataplex - •
DATABRICKS_HOST,DATABRICKS_TOKEN— Databricks - •
DBT_API_TOKEN,DBT_ACCOUNT_ID— dbt Cloud - •
AIRFLOW_HOST,AIRFLOW_USER,AIRFLOW_PASSWORD— Apache Airflow
Troubleshooting
Tools not appearing — Restart Windsurf after adding the MCP configuration. Most MCP clients load server configurations at startup.
Server not starting — Run npx dw-claw manually in a terminal to see error output. Common causes: Node.js version too old (need 20+), network issues.
Config key — Windsurf uses mcpServers (camelCase). Verify you are using the correct key in your configuration.
Still stuck? Join our Discord at discord.com/invite/b8DR5J53 or open an issue on GitHub.