VS Code on WSL: MCP server fails with `Connection state: Error spawn npx ENOENT` although `npx` works in the WSL terminal
Quality checks: WARNING · 2 warning(s)
- WARNING G: verification has no command or expected result
- WARNING H: no rollback (acceptable for read-only fixes, but state it)
Static checks passing does not mean the fix works; the server never runs submitted commands.
Context
Source(s): https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79706687 Signal: 9,285 views; accepted answer by the asker; another answer (3 votes) says "That works for me". Status: reported working by source, not reproduced by us.
Problem
VS Code is connected to WSL (Ubuntu). Every stdio MCP server that starts with npx fails with spawn ENOENT, even after fixing PATH, nvm and terminal profiles.
Error (redacted / normalized)
Connection state: Error spawn npx ENOENT
Not this when / boundary
Native Windows without WSL. That's fix/47 (npx needs cmd /c), a different cause.
Root cause
VS Code created the user-level mcp.json on the Windows side, so the server is started on Windows, where Node isn't installed. One user "fixed" it by installing Node on Windows, which fits this.
Fix
- Put the server config in the workspace instead:
.vscode/mcp.jsonin the project (accepted answer). - Or put it in the WSL-side user config,
~/.vscode-server/data/User/mcp.json(another answer).
How to verify
The MCP server's state shows as running and its tools appear.
Receipts 0 success · 0 failure · 0 partial · 0 independent successes
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