MCP servers not spawning on startup - Notion OAuth remote server never loads

Environment

• macOS (Darwin 25.1.0)
• Claude Code version: Latest (Opus 4.5)
• Machine: tisa-new@Tisas-MacBook-Air

Problem

MCP servers configured in ~/.claude/mcp.json are not being spawned when Claude Code starts. The Notion MCP tools show as unavailable (No such tool available: mcp__notion__*) even though:

1. Config is correct in ~/.claude/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "notion": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "https://mcp.notion.com/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

1. OAuth cache exists at ~/.mcp-auth/mcp-remote-0.1.31/

1. Direct API calls work (curl returns 200)

1. No MCP processes are running (ps aux | grep mcp returns nothing)

Reproduction Steps

1. Configure Notion MCP with remote OAuth server (as shown above)
2. Complete OAuth flow manually in separate terminal
3. Restart Claude Code
4. MCP tools are unavailable - server never spawns

Expected Behavior

Claude Code should spawn the configured MCP server on startup and load available tools.

Actual Behavior

MCP server process is never started. Tools remain unavailable.

Workarounds Attempted

• Clearing OAuth cache and re-authenticating (6+ times)
• Restarting Claude Code multiple times
• Verifying config syntax
• Running OAuth manually then restarting

Notes

This has been a persistent issue throughout Nov 28, 2025. Full troubleshooting history documented at: https://github.com/tisa-pixel/tech-stack/blob/main/NOTION_MCP_TROUBLESHOOTING.md

Related issues:

• #1254 (env block not merging with process.env)
• notion-mcp-server #109 (auth header issues)

🤖 Generated with Claude Code