Reference

Troubleshoot MCP Servers

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Use the reported status or lifecycle error to choose the matching remediation.

Credential Resolution Is Unknown

If mcp status <server> reports identical placeholder and control rejections, first confirm the stored credential is valid. Rotate it with mcp restart when in doubt.

For identical HTTP 401 or 403 responses, a confirmed-valid credential means the OpenShell gateway on this host is not rewriting openshell:resolve:env:KEY on egress. Every agent request receives the same authentication failure even when provider, attachment, readiness, and adapter checks report healthy.

This is a host-side OpenShell defect rather than a NemoClaw registration problem. Verify the OpenShell installation on the host, tracked upstream as OpenShell issue 2161.

An identical HTTP 400 remains inconclusive because the endpoint may reject the probe’s initialize request. Compare status for the same server on a known-good host.

A credential resolution: unknown verdict with an endpoint or policy detail means the probe could not reach a judgment. Fix the reported endpoint or policy condition, then rerun status.

Provider Is Missing During Restart

If restart reports a missing provider and the original credential is not registered in OpenShell, export the same variable name used during add and retry.

Add Transaction Is Incomplete

If status reports an incomplete add transaction, rerun the original mcp add command with the same URL and environment-variable name. Re-export the value if the provider still needs to be created.

To abandon the transaction, run mcp remove <server> --force. NemoClaw cleans only resources whose ownership it can prove and keeps the registry entry when residual cleanup remains.

Agent MCP Capability Is Missing

If add or restart reports that mcporter, the Hermes transaction helper, or Deep Agents managed MCP capability v2 is unavailable, rebuild the sandbox onto a current image before retrying. An existing Deep Agents v1 entry remains removable, destroyable, and eligible for rebuild teardown when NemoClaw can identify the exact registry-owned legacy entry.

The rebuilt image must pass the v2 capability check before its MCP runtime is restored.

Policy or Provider Ownership Drifted

If generated policy or provider metadata drifted, restart fails closed instead of overwriting same-name state. Resolve the reported OpenShell ownership or content mismatch, then retry. remove --force can continue cleaning other independently owned resources, but it does not claim or delete the drifted resource.

Registry entries created by an earlier preview with a host-alias URL or a credential name that is now reserved remain visible so they can be removed safely. Status reports the unsupported boundary, and restart and rebuild fail closed.

Remove the legacy entry before rebuilding or destroying the sandbox, then add a public HTTPS DNS endpoint with a dedicated service credential name.

MCP Policy Capability Is Unavailable

Install the required OpenShell build and rerun onboarding. NemoClaw checks inspectable installed OpenShell artifacts for protocol: mcp capability and does not enable managed MCP from a version number alone.

For image-backed or compressed supervisors without an inspectable host artifact, the onboarding check is provisional. Before a credential or provider side effect, the MCP command loads the exact generated policy with policy set --wait and exact-matches effective state.

A runtime that rejects protocol: mcp therefore fails closed.

Lifecycle Lock Times Out

Confirm that no mcp add, mcp restart, mcp remove, rebuild, or destroy command for the sandbox is still running, then retry the original command. NemoClaw recovers a lock only when its local process is provably dead or its PID has a different process-start identity.

It does not expose a force-unlock flag. Resolve a live or ambiguous owner on the host that owns it, and do not delete the lock file manually.