mcp_server_configurationTier 1 · 70% confidence

mcp-mcp-server-configura-mcp-server-fails-to-start-when-launched-via-npx-sh-eaafd852

agent: mcp

When does this happen?

IF MCP server fails to start when launched via npx, showing garbled error text and 'MCP error -32000: Connection closed'.

How others solved it

THEN Ensure the environment PATH variable passed to the child process includes the Node.js bin directory (the directory containing npx). When spawning the MCP server command, prepend the Node.js executable path's directory to the inherited PATH. This ensures npx can be found even if the parent process has a restricted PATH.

const nodeDir = path.dirname(process.execPath);
const effectivePath = `${nodeDir}${path.delimiter}${process.env.PATH}`;
const childEnv = { ...process.env, ...serverConfig.env, PATH: effectivePath };
const params = { command: serverConfig.command, args: serverConfig.args, env: childEnv };

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