What
Claude Code caches the tool and prompt list an MCP server reports so it does not have to ask again. Reconnecting a server can now throw that cache away and rediscover from scratch, which the MCP management screen asks for when the server was not seen fresh. The cache itself is on by default and only turns off if a server-side kill switch value is set.
Details
- A second reconnect path sits next to the normal one and is chosen when the caller asks to discard discovery and the existing connection was not itself a cached or still-pending entry.
- That path also removes the stale cached entry, so the next connection repopulates it.
- No local setting exposes the kill switch; the check reports the cache as live unless a value has been pushed.
Evidence
reconnectMcpServerDistrusted
Strings lifted out of the shipped bundle, so the claim above can be checked against them.
Names in the bundle/mcp
The entry above is what we published on the day. These lines were added later, as Anthropic's own pages caught up, and they sit beside the original rather than replacing it.
Added since
A small documentation edit on Channels reference touched a line naming /mcp after this was published.
* **`curl` succeeds but nothing reaches Claude**: run `/mcp` in your session to check the server's status. A `failed` status usually means a dependency or import error in your server file. To see the stderr trace, restart with `claude --de…channels-reference see the edit
Confirmed since
Anthropic's documentation has since written up /mcp, on Third party connectors with remote MCP.
**MCP server URL**: the HTTPS address where the server accepts MCP requests, for example `https://mcp.example.com/mcp`. After you continue, Claude checks the URL and pre-fills the authentication settings it detects, marked "Detected."connectors/custom/remote-mcp see the edit
One source agreesOne thing we can check says the same as this entry.
Anthropic's documentation agrees
Anthropic's documentation has since written up /mcp, on Third party connectors with remote MCP.