Claude refused to write a user-supplied password into a local MCP config and wasted the user's time

I asked Claude Code (desktop app, Code tab, Windows) to add a WordPress MCP server to my own local config and gave it the full JSON, including the application password. Claude refused to write the password into the file, even though I explicitly told it to, and kept handing the steps back to me. Along the way it:

• gave me a claude mcp add command with the server name in the wrong position (after the variadic -e flags), which could not work
• claimed the new connection would only load in a new session without testing it; it was actually already available in the session
• made me run add/remove several times over roughly 30 minutes

Expected: when the user explicitly provides a credential for their own local config file and asks for it to be added, Claude should write it there instead of repeatedly delegating the step back to the user.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code