## Claude Desktop Windows: mcp-remote not found when isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp is enabled

[brunocpu]

Claude Desktop Windows: mcp-remote not found when isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp is enabled

Description

On Claude Desktop for Windows, the datagouv MCP server appears in the configured servers list but fails to connect (no handshake, tools not available). The issue is caused by the isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp parameter, which defaults to true.

Environment

• Claude Desktop Windows (latest version)
• Node.js v24.12.0 installed on the system
• mcp-remote installed globally (npm install -g mcp-remote)

Configuration tested

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "datagouv": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.data.gouv.fr/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

Root cause

Claude Desktop ships its own embedded Node.js runtime. When isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp is true (the default), it uses this internal Node which cannot see globally installed npm packages — so mcp-remote is not found.

Fix

Add "isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp": false at the root of the config file:

{
  "isUsingBuiltInNodeForMcp": false,
  "mcpServers": {
    "datagouv": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["mcp-remote", "https://mcp.data.gouv.fr/mcp"]
    }
  }
}

After restarting Claude Desktop, the handshake succeeds and all 9 tools become available.

Suggestion

Would it be worth adding a note about this in the Claude Desktop section of the README? It's not a bug in your server, but Windows users are likely to hit this systematically.

Thanks for this great tool!

[bolinocroustibat]

PR: #90