Support per-MCP-server startDisabled option
Resolved 💬 3 comments Opened Feb 5, 2026 by hgangireddygari Closed May 23, 2026
Problem
MCP servers with large tool schemas (e.g., Notion) consume significant tokens on initialization, even in sessions where they aren't needed. Currently, the only options are:
- Keep the server enabled (always pays the token cost)
- Remove it from
enabledMcpjsonServers(but then it's unavailable via/mcptoggle)
There's no way to have a server available but not auto-initialized.
Proposed Solution
Add a per-server "startDisabled": true option in .mcp.json or settings.local.json:
{
"mcpServers": {
"notion-dev": {
"url": "https://mcp-dev.notion.com/mcp",
"startDisabled": true
}
}
}
Servers with startDisabled: true would:
- Not initialize or load tool schemas on session start
- Appear in
/mcpso users can enable them on demand - Save tokens in sessions where the server isn't needed
Use Case
Our team has a Notion MCP that's only needed ~30% of sessions but consumes a large number of tokens every time. We want it available on demand without paying the cost every session.
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