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MCP Academy · Lesson

Debug a Server That Won't Start

Read logs and fix common startup failures.

When Nothing Shows Up

Sometimes you restart the host and your tools simply aren’t there. Don’t panic: startup failures follow a few predictable patterns. 🛠️

Find the Logs First

Your first move is always the logs. Claude Desktop writes per-server log files that capture exactly why a process refused to start.

~/Library/Logs/Claude/mcp-server-NAME.log

All lessons in this course

  1. How stdio Transport Works
  2. Wire It into Claude Desktop
  3. Explore with MCP Inspector
  4. Debug a Server That Won't Start
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