Add per-MCP-server log files (parity with Claude Desktop)
Resolved 💬 2 comments Opened Feb 26, 2026 by BlockSecCA Closed Mar 26, 2026
Summary
Claude Desktop creates per-server log files for MCP servers (mcp-server-<name>.log), which makes debugging straightforward. Claude Code has no equivalent — MCP server output disappears into the session context with no persistent, per-server log trail.
Current behavior
- No log files created for MCP servers
- stderr from STDIO-based servers is not captured anywhere persistent
- Debugging MCP connection/runtime issues requires ad-hoc workarounds (wrapping commands to tee stderr, adding logging inside the server itself)
Expected behavior
Claude Code should capture stderr from each MCP server and write it to a per-server log file, similar to Claude Desktop:
~/.claude/logs/mcp-server-<name>.log
Why
- STDIO servers already have stderr available (stdout is the JSON-RPC channel), so there's no technical blocker
- MCP servers are a growing part of the Claude Code ecosystem — debugging them shouldn't require custom plumbing
- Feature parity with Claude Desktop reduces friction for users who work with both
Environment
- Claude Code CLI on Linux (Kali)
- Multiple STDIO-based MCP servers registered globally and per-project
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