[MODEL] Claude Code should know about how to install mcp better

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• [x] I have searched existing issues for similar behavior reports
• [x] This report does NOT contain sensitive information (API keys, passwords, etc.)

Type of Behavior Issue

Claude ignored my instructions or configuration

What You Asked Claude to Do

Here was my initial prompt:

install and configure:

  - gmail mcp
  - linear mcp
  - clickup mcp

  So that this project can access those services

  Please ultrathink
````

### What Claude Actually Did

Claude performed a global NPM Installation:

  npm install -g @gongrzhe/server-gmail-autoauth-mcp
  npm install -g clickup-mcp-server

  This installed the servers globally and then Claude configured them in Claude Desktop's config file at [...]/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json




### Expected Behavior

Claude should have configured them in claude code inside the current project

### Files Affected

```shell
[...]/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Permission Mode

Accept Edits was ON (auto-accepting changes)

Can You Reproduce This?

Haven't tried to reproduce

Steps to Reproduce

Try the prompt above

Claude Model

Sonnet

Relevant Conversation

> can you tell me more about how you installed mcp servers earlier?

⏺ Absolutely! Let me explain exactly how I installed the MCP servers and what might be the issue:

  How I Installed MCP Servers Earlier

  1. Global NPM Installation (First approach - for Claude Desktop)

  npm install -g @gongrzhe/server-gmail-autoauth-mcp
  npm install -g clickup-mcp-server
  npm install -g https://github.com/cjus/openai-ocr-mcp

  This installed the servers globally and I configured them in Claude Desktop's config file at:
  /Users/jkudish/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

  2. Claude Code Project Configuration (Second approach - what we want)

  claude mcp add --scope project gmail-mcp npx @gongrzhe/server-gmail-autoauth-mcp
  claude mcp add --scope project --transport http linear-mcp https://mcp.linear.app/mcp
  claude mcp add --scope project clickup-mcp npx clickup-mcp-server
  claude mcp add --scope project tesseract-ocr-mcp npx https://github.com/maximdx/tesseract-mcp-server

  This created the .mcp.json file in your project directory.

  The Issue: Two Different Systems

  I accidentally set up both systems:
  - Claude Desktop (the app) has its own MCP servers
  - Claude Code (this CLI tool) has its own separate MCP servers

  Current Status Check

⏺ Read(.mcp.json)
  ⎿  Read 34 lines (ctrl+o to expand)

⏺ The .mcp.json file exists and is correctly configured for Claude Code.

  Why They're Not Showing Up

  The MCP servers are configured but not connecting. Here's why:

  1. Package Installation: When I ran claude mcp add, it added configuration but didn't ensure the packages were locally available
  2. Authentication State: Some servers need to complete authentication before they'll connect
  3. Connection Health: The servers might be failing to start due to missing dependencies or auth issues

  Let me check if the packages are actually available:

⏺ Bash(which npx && npx --version)
  ⎿  /Users/jkudish/Library/Application Support/Herd/config/nvm/versions/node/v21.7.3/bin/npx
     10.5.0

⏺ The Root Issue

  When I used claude mcp add, it configured the servers but they need to be downloaded/cached by npx before they can run. The servers are trying to start but might be failing during the download or startup
  phase.

  The difference between my two approaches:
  - Global install (npm install -g) = Packages pre-downloaded and ready
  - claude mcp add with npx = Packages downloaded on-demand when first used

  This is why /mcp shows no servers - they're configured but failing to start successfully.

  Would you like me to fix this by either:
  1. Pre-installing the packages locally so npx can find them quickly
  2. Debug why the current configuration isn't connecting
  3. Try a different approach to get the MCP servers working in Claude Code?

Impact

Medium - Extra work to undo changes

Claude Code Version

v1.0.123

Platform

Anthropic API

Additional Context

_No response_