/mcp list doesn't show zen MCP tools that are loaded and functional

Resolved 💬 4 comments Opened Sep 11, 2025 by royliu-sage Closed Jan 8, 2026

Description

There's a discrepancy between /mcp list and /context commands regarding zen MCP server tools visibility.

Current Behavior

  • /mcp list returns empty or doesn't show zen MCP server
  • /context shows zen MCP tools are loaded (mcp__zen__chat, mcp__zen__thinkdeep, etc.)
  • Zen tools work correctly when invoked (tested with mcp__zen__chat)

Expected Behavior

/mcp list should display all available MCP servers including zen, consistent with what /context shows.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Run /mcp list command - returns empty/no content
  2. Run /context command - shows zen tools loaded with token counts:

``
└ mcp__zen__chat (zen): 2.5k tokens
└ mcp__zen__thinkdeep (zen): 3.0k tokens
└ mcp__zen__planner (zen): 2.6k tokens
[... and more zen tools]
``

  1. Use a zen tool like mcp__zen__chat - works correctly

Evidence

  • Zen tools successfully used to interact with Gemini 2.5 Pro and GPT o3-mini models
  • Tools are auto-approved and functional
  • Only the listing/discovery is inconsistent

Impact

Users cannot discover available zen MCP tools through /mcp list, leading to confusion about what tools are available.

Environment

  • Claude Code (CLI version)
  • Platform: darwin
  • Multiple MCP servers configured (github, confluence, zen, roy-jira, slack, jira-hackdonalds)

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