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Troubleshooting

The fixes for the issues people actually hit, roughly in the order they happen. If none of these solve it, ask your AI to run a diagnosis — it can report the problem for you.

Tools don’t appear in my AI client

  • Restart the AI app once after installing — MCP clients read their config on launch.
  • Cursor / VS Code: tools only show in Agent mode (Chat and Edit modes don’t expose MCP tools).
  • Check the LMCP menu bar icon on Mac or system tray icon on Windows is present and its status dot is green.

The menu bar or system tray icon is missing

Open Local MCP from Applications on Mac or the Start menu on Windows. Mac users can follow the tray-not-running guide to reset the LaunchAgent; on Windows, quit LMCP from Task Manager and open it again from Start.

“Permission denied” or empty results

An operating-system or app permission is missing. Check the permission guide. On Mac, Mail, iMessage and local message caches can require Full Disk Access, while acting in apps can requireAutomation. On Windows, review Settings → Privacy & securityand confirm that the relevant desktop app is signed in and its local data is available.

A tool says its service is turned off

Each app LMCP works with (Mail, Calendar, Teams…) is a service you can turn off. A turned-off service is your preference, not an error: its tools answer that it is off instead of reading anything. To turn it off or back on, use the LMCP menu bar icon on Mac or Settings → Services on Windows, or ask your AI to turn it back on. On Mac, Calendar, Reminders and Contacts also need their macOS permission, which is accepted on the computer running LMCP.

ChatGPT / Claude.ai can’t reach my computer

  • Turn on web access in the menu bar app (Your web AI · Cloud Relay) — it’s off by default.
  • Make sure your Mac or Windows PC is awake and online; the relay reconnects automatically.
  • If the connector shows an auth error or says it no longer points to an active computer, disconnect it in your AI’s connector settings and connect it again — see Connect your AI.

A tool failed or returned something odd

Ask your AI to “report this problem” — LMCP has a built-in reporter that captures the full diagnostic snapshot (versions, permission states, recent errors) and sends it to the team in one step. You’ll get a case id back.

On Mac, you can also ask the AI to run lmcp_doctor. It previews checks for AI client configuration, permissions, integrations and updates, then fixes only the safe items you explicitly confirm. The equivalent guided repair flow is still being built for Windows.

Where the logs are

Mac:

~/Library/Application Support/Local MCP/server.log

Windows: use LMCP → Diagnostics → Open logs from the system tray.

Still stuck?

Search the Help Center (your question helps us improve it) or contact us.