Feature Request: disabled option for MCP servers in .mcp.json

[YoungjaeDev]

Problem

All configured MCP servers load their tool schemas into context at session start, consuming tokens even when unused.

Users must choose between:

• Keep servers configured → waste context on unused tools
• Remove servers → lose access when needed

Proposed Solution

Add disabled option to MCP server config:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "serena": {
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": ["--from", "git+https://github.com/oraios/serena", "serena-mcp-server"],
      "disabled": true
    },
    "deepwiki": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.deepwiki.com/mcp"
    }
  }
}

Expected Behavior

• disabled: true → Server not connected, tools not loaded into context
• disabled: false or omitted → Current behavior (connected at session start)
• Optional enhancement: Enable at runtime via /mcp enable serena

Benefits

• Keep configurations without context overhead
• Easy toggle without claude mcp remove/add
• Similar pattern to VS Code extension disable

Use Case

Power users with 5+ MCP servers configured only need 1-2 per session. Currently forced to remove unused servers or accept ~3000+ tokens of tool schemas loaded every session.

[tx2z]

Just hitting this problem as well.

Related note: the existing settings enableAllProjectMcpServers: false + enabledMcpjsonServers: [...] in .claude/settings.local.json are documented but don't work (at least as I expect them to work :) ) - all servers still load regardless.

I have a .mcp.json file with 6 mcp configured, but want to enable only 2 and keep the other 4 disabled

In claude .claude/settings.local.json I have:
{
"enableAllProjectMcpServers": false,
"enabledMcpjsonServers": ["supabase-local", "maestro"]
}

Result: all 6 servers from .mcp.json connect (~38k tokens). Version 2.1.7.

Either fixing those settings OR adding disabled per-server would solve this.

The per-server approach in this issue is cleaner IMO.

[zernie]

This is super important to fix for the MCP adoption in CC to succeed

[jzillmann]

would be nice

[Dumbris]

Alternatively you can use https://github.com/smart-mcp-proxy/mcpproxy-go - don't need to manage servers in .mcp.json at all, any server/tool available to claude on demand without context bloat.

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

[github-actions]

This issue has been automatically locked since it was closed and has not had any activity for 7 days. If you're experiencing a similar issue, please file a new issue and reference this one if it's relevant.