[BUG] /doctor v2.1.122 mislabels home-scope .mcp.json parse error path with cwd-template, masking actual file location

Preflight Checklist

• [x] I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• [x] This is a single bug report (please file separate reports for different bugs)
• [x] I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

/doctor MCP Config Diagnostics section reports parse errors against <cwd>/.mcp.json even when the actual broken file lives at ~/.mcp.json or ~/.claude/.mcp.json. The reported Location: field is templated from the current working directory, NOT derived from the file actually being parsed.

Three /doctor invocations from three different cwd values, all reading the SAME actual broken file at ~/.mcp.json, reported three different paths in this session:

# cwd = ~/.claude/plugins/local/
Location: /Users/<user>/.claude/plugins/local/.mcp.json

# cwd = ~/code/ogham-mcp/  (after cd + claude restart)
Location: /Users/<user>/code/ogham-mcp/.mcp.json

# cwd = ~/  (after cd + claude restart)
Location: /Users/<user>/.mcp.json

ls -la confirmed the first two paths did NOT exist on disk — they were phantom paths derived from cwd. Only the third was a real file. find ~ -maxdepth 4 -name '.mcp.json' was the only way to locate the actual broken file.

Makes debugging unnecessarily hard — users chase the diagnostic-reported path, find nothing there, and have to manually find the real file across all possible scopes (home, ~/.claude/, project, etc.).

What Should Happen?

Either:

1. Report the actual file location parsed (e.g. Location: /Users/<user>/.mcp.json (resolved via cwd tree-walk)), OR
2. Distinguish two cases in the output:

• "Expected at <cwd>/.mcp.json (file does not exist — no project config)"
• "Parsed from ~/.mcp.json (parse error: ...)"

Right now both cases collapse into the same Location: template, so users can't tell whether the reported path is where the bad file actually is, or just where Claude Code expected to find one. A small label change ("Location: <actual-file-path>") would eliminate this entire class of false leads.

Error Messages/Logs

Three real /doctor outputs from a single session, three different cwd values, all reading the SAME actual file at ~/.mcp.json:

# cwd = ~/.claude/plugins/local/
[Failed to parse] Project config (shared via .mcp.json)
Location: /Users/<user>/.claude/plugins/local/.mcp.json
 └ [Error] mcpServers.ogham: Does not adhere to MCP server configuration schema

# cwd = ~/code/ogham-mcp/  (after cd + claude restart)
[Failed to parse] Project config (shared via .mcp.json)
Location: /Users/<user>/code/ogham-mcp/.mcp.json
 └ [Error] mcpServers.ogham: Does not adhere to MCP server configuration schema

# cwd = ~/  (after cd + claude restart)
[Failed to parse] Project config (shared via .mcp.json)
Location: /Users/<user>/.mcp.json
 └ [Error] mcpServers.ogham: Does not adhere to MCP server configuration schema

ls -la confirmed paths 1 and 2 do not exist on disk; only path 3 was real.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Have a broken .mcp.json at ~/.mcp.json or ~/.claude/.mcp.json. Example broken entry (deprecated bare-url schema): {"mcpServers": {"foo": {"url": "http://127.0.0.1:8742/sse"}}} (missing type discriminator).
2. From any directory that does NOT contain a .mcp.json, run claude then /doctor.
3. Observe MCP Config Diagnostics output — Location field shows <cwd>/.mcp.json (a path that does not exist on disk).
4. cd to a different directory, restart claude, run /doctor again — Location field now shows the new <cwd>/.mcp.json (still phantom).
5. The actual broken file remains at ~/.mcp.json — only find ~ -maxdepth 4 -name '.mcp.json' reveals where it actually is.

Claude Model

None

Is this a regression?

I don't know

Last Working Version

_No response_

Claude Code Version

2.1.122 (Claude Code)

Platform

Anthropic API

Operating System

macOS

Terminal/Shell

Terminal.app (macOS)

Additional Information

Workaround: always run find ~ -maxdepth 4 -name '.mcp.json' 2>/dev/null first to locate the real file before trying to fix anything reported by /doctor.

A /mcp config-paths command listing all scopes Claude Code parses (project, home ~/.mcp.json, home-scope ~/.claude/.mcp.json, etc.) would also help users understand the resolution order independent of /doctor errors.

Discovered during yolo-labz/claude-mac-chrome plugin install on macOS Apple Silicon. Spent ~30 minutes chasing two phantom paths before running find to locate the real file. For users less familiar with shell tree-walks and MCP config scopes, this could be much longer.