Support per-MCP-server startDisabled option
Status Closed — not planned
Maintainer reply None cached
Activity 3 comments · opened Feb 5, 2026 · 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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