MCP_TIMEOUT
A Claude Code environment variable, read out of the shipped bundle. It has been in the build since v2.1.138, including the newest one read.
What it is
Very large MCP_TIMEOUT values are capped instead of overflowing and timing out instantly.
Not Anthropic's. This is the line from the earliest changelog entry here that named it, v2.1.227.
Presence across releases
| Releases | Reading | Declared type | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2.1.245 – 2.1.251 6 releases | never mined | — | — |
| 2.1.160 – 2.1.243 75 releases | in the build | int | — |
| 2.1.138 – 2.1.159 20 releases | in the build | — | — |
A row reading never mined is a release with no archived bundle behind it. Nothing was read out of it, so nothing here says whether the name was in it. A declared type or a default is only ever what that release's own bundle stated.
Changelog entries naming it
-
v2.1.227Huge MCP timeout values no longer fire instantly
Very large MCP_TIMEOUT values are capped instead of overflowing and timing out instantly.
named in this entry
Documentation pages
- Connect to external tools with MCP mentions it Claude Code CLI
- CLI reference mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Error reference mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Run Claude Code programmatically mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Connect Claude Code to tools via MCP mentions it Claude Code CLI
- Connect to MCP servers mentions it Claude Code CLI
A reference table page is one whose own table defines this name, and it is where the description above came from. A page that mentions it carries the name somewhere in its text and may say nothing about it at all. Every page carrying it.
Names beside it
Every environment variable in the inventory starting mcp, up to twelve of them.
MCP_CLIENT_SECRETNo description from anybody. 2.1.138
MCP_CONNECT_TIMEOUT_MSVery large MCP_TIMEOUT values are capped instead of overflowing and timing out instantly. 2.1.138
MCP_CONNECTION_NONBLOCKINGFive more environment variables, including stream and byte watchdogs, can be set in settings.json. 2.1.138
MCP_DISCOVERY_CACHEStartup no longer dials cached HTTP or SSE MCP servers; they restore from cache and connect on first use. 2.1.217
MCP_DISCOVERY_CACHE_MAX_STALE_SNo description from anybody. 2.1.217
MCP_DISCOVERY_CACHE_STRIKESNo description from anybody. 2.1.238
MCP_DISCOVERY_CACHE_TTL_SNo description from anybody. 2.1.217
MCP_OAUTH_CALLBACK_PORTAbout 220 environment variables now parse and validate in one place, including bounds checks. 2.1.138
MCP_OAUTH_CLIENT_METADATA_URLNo description from anybody. 2.1.138
MCP_PROTOCOL_NEGOTIATIONIn auto mode MCP connections would probe for a modern protocol and fall back to legacy, but nothing enables it. 2.1.221
MCP_REMOTE_SERVER_CONNECTION_BATCH_SIZETwo new env vars set how many MCP servers connect at once, local and remote. 2.1.138
MCP_SDK_GENERATIONNo description from anybody. 2.1.218
Read out of the published npm bundle release by release, and out of Anthropic's own documentation as this site captured it. Nothing on this page is a description anybody here wrote about what the environment variable does. All environment variables.