/mcp reconnect <server> fails with CLI-only "terminal is still starting up" error in VS Code extension

Description

In the Claude Code VS Code native extension, running /mcp reconnect <server-name> fails with:

MCP controls aren't available right now — the terminal is still starting up or is showing another view.

This reproduces even when the integrated terminal panel is completely idle (a plain zsh prompt, nothing running) and no other overlay is active — no permission dialog, no plan mode, no in-progress streaming response.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open Claude Code via the VS Code native extension, with at least one MCP server configured and connected.
2. Run /mcp with no arguments — this works and prints inline status text, e.g.:

``
1 MCP server(s): 1 connected, 0 not connected, 0 disabled. Use /mcp in the terminal for details.
Usage: /mcp [reconnect|enable|disable [<server>|all]]. With no server name, applies to all.
``

1. Run /mcp reconnect <server-name> (matching the usage string above) — this fails.

Expected behavior

/mcp reconnect <server-name> should reconnect the named server, per the /mcp [reconnect|enable|disable [<server>|all]] usage the tool itself prints — or at minimum fail with a message that reflects the VS Code extension's actual architecture.

Actual behavior

Fails with:

MCP controls aren't available right now — the terminal is still starting up or is showing another view.

This message describes CLI-terminal-TUI readiness concepts ("terminal is still starting up", "showing another view") that don't map to the VS Code extension's chat sidebar, which isn't a PTY-hosted terminal. It looks like a guard/error string written for the standalone CLI's interactive TUI that got reused as-is in the extension, where the underlying condition it's checking for doesn't actually apply — hence it fires unconditionally regardless of terminal/UI state.

Workaround

Running bare /mcp (no arguments) and reconnecting the server from the resulting interactive list/dialog works, where the inline /mcp reconnect <name> argument form does not.

Environment

• Claude Code VS Code native extension
• macOS

Related

Possibly related to #61474 (feature request to add /mcp reconnect support), which may indicate this argument form isn't fully wired up in the extension yet and the fallback error is misleading rather than the intended behavior.