Claude: MCP server does not start with nvm version

[Gervwyk]

A pain to get it working in Cluade. Some co-workers got it working by adding env.PATH:

"MongoDB": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mongodb-mcp-server",
        "--connectionString",
        "<xxx>"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PATH": "/Users/<xxx>/.nvm/versions/node/v22.15.0/bin:/bin"
      }
    }

I tried all advice in https://github.com/mongodb-js/mongodb-mcp-server with no luck.

[gagik]

Hey, thank you for the report. Could you share part of the error logs from Claude you're getting, if possible?

Couple things that could help:

• Set your nvm alias default to be a version >=20.0.0.
• Check what node version your original npx installation was done under and re-install it globally.

[shashank-yelluri]

@gagik - similar thing for the cursor code editor as well, here is the config which is not working,

"MongoDB": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "mongodb-mcp-server",
        "--connectionString",
        "mongodb://<username>:<password>@localhost:27017/<db-name>?directConnection=true"
      ],
      "env": {
        "PATH": "/opt/homebrew/bin/npx"
      }
    }

Here are the logs,
2025-05-05 23:59:19.996 [info] goDB: Handling CreateClient action
2025-05-05 23:59:19.997 [info] goDB: Starting new stdio process with command: npx -y mongodb-mcp-server --connectionString mongodb://:@localhost:27017/?directConnection=true
2025-05-05 23:59:20.516 [info] goDB: Client closed for command
2025-05-05 23:59:20.516 [error] goDB: Error in MCP: Client closed
2025-05-05 23:59:20.516 [info] -mcp: Handling ListOfferings action
2025-05-05 23:59:20.516 [info] -mcp: Listing offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.516 [info] -mcp: Connected to stdio server, fetching offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.517 [error] user-clickup-mcp: [05/05/25 23:59:20] INFO Processing request of type server.py:534
ListToolsRequest

2025-05-05 23:59:20.518 [info] listOfferings: Found 3 tools
2025-05-05 23:59:20.518 [info] -mcp: Found 3 tools, 0 resources, and 0 resource templates
2025-05-05 23:59:20.521 [info] -mcp: Handling ListOfferings action
2025-05-05 23:59:20.521 [info] -mcp: Listing offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.521 [info] -mcp: Connected to stdio server, fetching offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.522 [info] listOfferings: Found 3 tools
2025-05-05 23:59:20.522 [info] -mcp: Found 3 tools, 0 resources, and 0 resource templates
2025-05-05 23:59:20.523 [info] ext7: Handling ListOfferings action
2025-05-05 23:59:20.523 [info] ext7: Listing offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.523 [info] ext7: Connected to stdio server, fetching offerings
2025-05-05 23:59:20.523 [info] listOfferings: Found 2 tools
2025-05-05 23:59:20.523 [info] ext7: Found 2 tools, 0 resources, and 0 resource templates
2025-05-05 23:59:20.524 [info] goDB: Handling ListOfferings action
2025-05-05 23:59:20.524 [error] goDB: No server info found

[gagik]

@shashank-yelluri Thanks for the logs! Can you try verifying that npx is available in your terminal generally as well as running npx -y mongodb-mcp-server --connectionString mongodb://:@localhost:27017/?directConnection=true directly in your terminal and see if that reports any errors?

I wouldn't expect npx to be installed through homebrew. You may benefit setting PATH to "/opt/homebrew/bin/node" if you installed Node through homebrew, but this shouldn't generally be necessary.
I'd recommend installing it through instructions at https://nodejs.org/en/download. I would then recommend removing the PATH environment you have set.

If all else is failing, a workaround is to use npm install --global mongodb-mcp-server and set { command: "mongodb-mcp-server" ... } directly but then updating would be more manual, so through npx is best.