MCP Servers Don't Work with NVM

[combdn]

Problem

When using NVM (Node Version Manager), the standard installation and usage instructions for MCP servers don't work. The app tries to use an incorrect Node and fails.

Workaround

1. Avoid npx, install packages globally.
2. Use absolute paths to both the Node executable and server script.

Example:

{  
  "mcpServers": {
    "puppeteer": {
      "command": "/Users/username/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "/Users/username/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/lib/node_modules/@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

OS: macOS 15.1.1 (24B91)

[mckaywrigley]

I also ran into issues with the recommended npx setup, and I was able to successfully reproduce this workaround - fixes it completely.

MCPs now install and attach correctly within Claude Desktop.

[lborgav]

This workaround works fine

[adam91holt]

I can confirm this is working for me too.

You may have a different node.js version installed so just do the following for puppeteer as an example

npm i -g @modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer
cd /Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.nvm/versions/node
ls
>>> v14.17.6        v16.19.0        v18.14.0        v18.20.4

Then I ended up with this and it works sweet!

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "puppeteer": {
      "command": "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.nvm/versions/node/v18.20.4/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "/Users/YOUR_USERNAME/.nvm/versions/node/v18.20.4/lib/node_modules/@modelcontextprotocol/server-puppeteer/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

[jspahrsummers]

The challenge with NVM is that it seems to mostly work by installing a very complicated shell function into your shell profile. It'd be great if we could figure out your preferred Node version via NVM, but I haven't found a good way to do that—open to ideas!

[jspahrsummers]

Cross-linking: see #40 for Windows workaround steps as well

[lolochka]

Unfortunately, the issue is still reproducible on Mac with nvm installed.

OS: macOS 15.1.1
Claude: 0.7.5
Locally I have checked that all packages are available with inputted paths.

The SQlite server is working correctly, but tools for server-filesystem doesn't appear

My settings

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sqlite": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["mcp-server-sqlite", "--db-path", "/Users/user/test.db"]
    },
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v22.11.0/lib/node_modules/@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem/dist/index.js",
        "/Users/user/claude"
      ]
    }
  }
}

[mlaugharn]

suggestion: the same way that there is the mcpServers field, can there also be an eg mcpShell field? Or maybe a shell or source key per individual server, eg "shell": "source /Users/user/mcp.sh" ? Might introduce 'too much' flexibility but it could make mcp more usable/transparent to tinker with.

[daaain]

I was struggling to get MCP working yesterday, the error messages in the logs were unhelpful, and the most confusing of all is that it just started working today. This might not be the repo for this request, but it would be really useful if it was explicily documented which shell Claude Desktop is using to start the MCP services.

To your question @jspahrsummers, wouldn't nvm alias default work?

[jspahrsummers]

Unfortunately no, the environment for GUI apps is completely different from what you see on the command line.

[daaain]

Unfortunately no, the environment for GUI apps is completely different from what you see on the command line.

Ah right, I had a look and to answer my own question, assuming that Claude Desktop's Electron implementation uses the MCP TS SDK, it's node:child_process spawn with shell: false.

[combdn]

In the meantime, I have migrated from NVM to mise, and now, if I start the Claude app from my shell (open -a Claude), it can correctly use node and npm (it didn’t work with NVM). That might be a workaround for some people with the same problem.

PS Apple seems to have removed an option to set up the environment for the GUI apps through the launch agents. But I'm not sure. I didn’t dive too deep into it.

[daaain]

I was going to say check if path.join(process.env.HOME, '.nvm/nvm-exec') exists and if so, use it, but then also realised that path won't be the same for Windows and the config JSON doesn't specify if the MCP server is Node or Python and using npx -y is just a convention, so can't assume anything.

Feels like the current implementation is in a bit of an uncanny valley between being very open for people to run whatever they want while also very limited by the GUI spawned non-shell process 🤔 I'm wondering if offering the option to either use bundled runtimes for simplicity or running in a full shell for flexibility would be useful? That's what Mac Git GUIs I've used have been doing to solve similar issues. Or WASM 😅

Or actually, maybe having a separate daemon process to make this easier, especially if there are plans to integrate Claude deeper for computer use?

Edit: actually, ~/.nvm/alias/default is a simple text file with the NVM default node version, so if it exists then it can be used to construct a platform dependent path to the Node binary.

BTW MCPs stopped working with my Claude Desktop again, the errors in logs suggest it might be a command argument concat issue?

mcp-server-webresearch.log:

ERROR: You must supply a command.

Execute binaries from npm packages.

  npx [options] <command>[@version] [command-arg]...
...

mcp-server-filesystem.log

command not found: /Users/dain/Desktop

With the config:

{
  "globalShortcut": "",
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem",
        "/Users/dain/Desktop"
      ]
    },
    "webresearch": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@mzxrai/mcp-webresearch"]
    }
  }
}

[lynnbright]

This workaround works for me. Thanks a lot! 🙏
Here's how I successfully installed the MCP servers.

Environment

• macOS 14.3
• Claude 0.7.5

Installation Steps

1. Check your Node.js version:

node -v
# Example output: v18.17.0

2. Clone and set up the repository:

git clone <repository-url>
cd <repository-name>
npm install
npm run build
npm link

Configure claude_desktop_config.json

Locate Required Paths

1. Find your Node.js executable path:

cd ~/.nvm/versions/node
ls  # List available Node versions
cd v18.17.0/bin  # Replace with your version
pwd  # Copy this path + /node for the command field
# Example output: /Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/bin/node

2. Find the built file path:

cd ~/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/lib/node_modules/linear-mcp-server/build
pwd  # Copy this path + /index.js for the args field
# Example output: /Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/lib/node_modules/linear-mcp-server/build/index.js

Example Configuration

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "sqlite": {
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "mcp-server-sqlite",
        "--db-path",
        "/Users/lynnbright/test.db"
      ]
    },
    "linear": {
      "command": "/Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "/Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/lib/node_modules/linear-mcp-server/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "LINEAR_API_KEY": "lin_api_xxxx"
      }
    },
    "notion": {
      "command": "/Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/bin/node",
      "args": [
        "/Users/lynnbright/.nvm/versions/node/v18.17.0/lib/node_modules/notion/build/index.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "NOTION_API_TOKEN": "ntn_xxxxx"
      }
    }
  }
}

Final Step

Restart Claude Desktop.

[keturiosakys]

FNM (https://github.com/Schniz/fnm) doesn't work either but the workaround worked!