Troubleshoot Claude Desktop and Zoom MCP connections

Claude Desktop not connecting to the MCP server

If Claude Desktop doesn’t offer Zoom tools or reports that the MCP server is unavailable, check your Claude Desktop configuration file.Default config path on macOS:

~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json

Your config should look like this, with an absolute path to launch-mcp.js:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "zoom": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["/absolute/path/to/zoommcp/launch-mcp.js"]
    }
  }
}

Confirm the args path is absolute

The path in args must be an absolute path to launch-mcp.js. Relative paths will not work when Claude Desktop launches the server.

Restart Claude Desktop

Claude Desktop only reads the config file at startup. After editing the config, fully quit and reopen Claude Desktop.

Check the MCP logs

If the server still doesn’t connect, inspect the Claude Desktop MCP logs for error details:

ls ~/Library/Logs/Claude/

Open any mcp*.log file to see what happened when Claude tried to start the server.

Permission denied when running scripts

If you see a Permission denied error when running ./run.sh or any script in the scripts/ directory, the shell scripts aren’t marked as executable. Fix this with:

chmod +x *.sh
chmod +x scripts/*.sh

You only need to do this once after cloning the repository.

Claude app not launching or not detected

The server checks whether Claude Desktop is running using multiple detection methods at startup, retrying up to 15 times before giving up. If Claude Desktop is not open, the server attempts to open it automatically.If the server starts but Claude Desktop never appears:

Check if Claude Desktop is installed

Verify the app exists in /Applications/Claude.app. If it’s missing, download it from the Claude website.

Open Claude Desktop manually

Launch Claude Desktop from your Applications folder or Spotlight, then restart the MCP server.

If Claude Desktop closes while the MCP server is running, the server detects this automatically and attempts to reopen it during the next monitoring cycle (every 60 seconds by default).

Server won't connect after token refresh

When the MCP server refreshes a Zoom token, it injects the new token into the Claude Desktop config file and then restarts Claude Desktop so the new token takes effect. If this restart fails, Claude Desktop may continue running with a stale token.If the automatic restart doesn’t complete:Manually restart Claude Desktop. Fully quit the app (not just close the window), then reopen it.

Do not use Cmd+W to close Claude Desktop — use Cmd+Q or right-click the Dock icon and choose Quit to ensure the process fully exits before relaunching.

Electron app: icon appears but no window opens

If you’re using the Zoom MCP macOS app and the app icon appears in the Dock but no window opens, a stale process from a previous session may be blocking the launch.Kill the stale process and relaunch:

pkill -f "Zoom MCP.app/Contents/MacOS/Zoom MCP"
open "dist/mac-arm64/Zoom MCP.app"

Electron app: build fails

If ./build-app.sh or npm run app:build:mac fails, reset your dependencies and verify system requirements:

Reset dependencies

npm clean-install

Verify macOS version

The Electron app requires macOS 10.13 or later. Check your macOS version in System Settings > General > About.

Run in development mode for detailed errors

npm run app:dev

Development mode opens DevTools alongside the app window, making it easier to see build or runtime errors.

Get Started

Setup

Usage

Tools Reference

Troubleshooting

Troubleshoot Claude Desktop and Zoom MCP connections