Not able to add some MCP servers using npx

[commandodev]

What happened?

I've tried two different mcp servers which use npx:

mcpServers:
  # everything:
  #   # type: sse # type can optionally be omitted
  #   url: http://localhost:3001/sse
  puppeteer:
    url: http://localhost:3001/sse
  notion:
    type: stdio
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - "@suekou/mcp-notion-server"
    env:
      NOTION_API_TOKEN: xxx
  github:
    type: stdio
    command: npx
    args:
      - -y
      - "@modelcontextprotocol/server-github"
    env:
      GITHUB_PERSONAL_ACCESS_TOKEN: xxx

In the logs I see this:

Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: sh: mcp-server-github: not found
Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:56 info: [MCP][github] Connection state: error
Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:56 error: [MCP][github] Connection failed: MCP error -1: Connection closed
Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: sh: mcp-notion-server: not found
Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:56 info: [MCP][notion] Connection state: error
Feb 24 20:33:56 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:56 error: [MCP][notion] Connection failed: MCP error -1: Connection closed
Feb 24 20:33:58 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:58 info: [MCP][github] Connection state: disconnected
Feb 24 20:33:58 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:58 info: [MCP][github] Connection state: connecting
Feb 24 20:33:58 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:58 info: [MCP][notion] Connection state: disconnected
Feb 24 20:33:58 p1 librechat_api[336958]: 2025-02-24 20:33:58 info: [MCP][notion] Connection state: connecting
Feb 24 20:33:59 p1 librechat_api[336958]: sh: mcp-server-github: not found

I can get a shell on the container and run the npx command fine, so not sure what's going on...

One thing to note here - this is only happening when there are envs added. Without (fileserver and sequential thinking) seem to work fine)

Version Information

ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev-api latest df74a5e13736 3 days ago 1.08 GB
ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-rag-api-dev-lite latest 095db2c2ff3b 2 months ago 1.32 GB

Steps to Reproduce

Add an npx based mcp stdio server.
Watch sh not be able to find it

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

Chrome

Relevant log output

Screenshots

No response

Code of Conduct

• I agree to follow this project's Code of Conduct

[danny-avila]

The modelcontextprotocol SDK has trouble with some installations of node, this workaround worked for me:

modelcontextprotocol/servers#64 (comment)

mcpServers:
  notion:
    type: stdio
    command: "/home/danny/.nvm/versions/node/v20.15.1/bin/node"
    args:
      - "/home/danny/.nvm/versions/node/v20.15.1/lib/node_modules/@suekou/mcp-notion-server/build/index.js"
    env:
      NOTION_API_TOKEN: xxx

terminal logs

2025-02-24T21:33:09.626Z debug: [MCP][notion] Transport sending: {"method":"initialize","params":{"protocolVersion":"2024-11-05","capabilities":{},"clientInfo":{"name":"librechat-mcp... [truncated]
Starting Notion MCP Server...
Connecting server to transport...
Notion MCP Server running on stdio
2025-02-24T21:33:09.655Z debug: [MCP][notion] Transport sending: {"method":"notifications/initialized","jsonrpc":"2.0"}
2025-02-24T21:33:09.655Z info: [MCP][notion] Connection state: connected
2025-02-24T21:33:09.655Z info: [MCP][notion] Capabilities: {"tools":{}}
2025-02-24T21:33:09.655Z debug: [MCP][notion] Transport sending: {"method":"tools/list","jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1}
Received ListToolsRequest
2025-02-24T21:33:09.657Z info: [MCP][notion] Available tools: notion_append_block_children, notion_retrieve_block, notion_retrieve_block_children, notion_delete_block, notion_retrie... [truncated]

[kaushikvira]

Thanks this saved me lot of time. I had same issue i tried many ways but this is smart.

[commandodev]

Got it. I'm trying to run this in the docker container though: ghcr.io/danny-avila/librechat-dev-api latest df74a5e13736

So I guess this implies that something needs to be different in how that is built so the examples work?

[commandodev]

I've removed the env parts from both and the processes now start (but don't work as they don't have the environment vars).

So I guess there's something not quite right with how this is all wired up.

[walbercardoso]

Same here. Whenever we use env this problem occurs

[danny-avila]

try using MCP gateway or super gateway as an alternative

https://github.com/acehoss/mcp-gateway
https://github.com/supercorp-ai/supergateway

[chwzr]

i had success with following workaround, spawn sh -c and export env vars via sh command:

  firecrawl:
    type: stdio
    command: sh
    args:
      - -c
      - "export FIRECRAWL_API_KEY=fc-super-secret-api-key && npx -y firecrawl-mcp"

[rioiart]

For me the issue is related to timeouts, the MCP servers can't fully start up before LibreChat gives up on them. Ended up using a proxy to make them available over SSE, now it works.

[walbercardoso]

For me the issue is related to timeouts, the MCP servers can't fully start up before LibreChat gives up on them. Ended up using a proxy to make them available over SSE, now it works.

Could you elaborate on how you did that?

[hasani114]

It seems like when you use the "env" variable in the yaml config in docker that overrides the systems default PATH. so this worked for me:

[mbailey256]

Setting the path worked for me when setting up the Notion server.

[ferrants]

Very helpful, hsani114. This setting of the PATH for ENV, npx mcp servers should be added to the docs here:
https://www.librechat.ai/docs/configuration/librechat_yaml/object_structure/mcp_servers#stdio-mcp-server