MCP Server Configuration

Anish Reghu · an hour ago

Dear all,

I am trying to configure a MCP Server.

I tried my best, but I am failing, not sure why. (Attached are the MCP Server connection logs as well)

I am trying to use the nowaikit which is open source MCP Server.

I configured everything via the terminal as well as tried entering those configurations into the claude_desktop_config file as well, but it still throws error.

The JSON code is as below:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpage-mcp": {
      "command": "cmd.exe",
      "args": [
        "/c",
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "-p",
        "webpage-mcp@latest",
        "webpage-mcp-stdio"
      ]
    },
    "nowaikit": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": [
        "-y",
        "nowaikit"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://dev*****.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_BASIC_USERNAME": "mcp_admin",
        "SERVICENOW_BASIC_PASSWORD": "*THE_PASSWORD",
        "WRITE_ENABLED": "true",
        "SCRIPTING_ENABLED": "true"
      }
    }
  },
  "coworkUserFilesPath": "C:\\Users\\AnishReghuKumaranNai\\Claude",
  "preferences": {
    "launchPreviewPersistedWorkspaces": [],
    "launchPreviewSessionScopedSessions": [],
    "coworkScheduledTasksEnabled": false,
    "coworkHipaaRestricted": false,
    "ccdScheduledTasksEnabled": false,
    "bypassPermissionsGateByAccount": {
      "eb4efa2c-d675-43ba-a986-48d24c44df66": false
    },
    "coworkWebSearchEnabled": true,
    "coworkModelAutoFallbackByAccount": {
      "eb4efa2c-d675-43ba-a986-48d24c44df66": true
    },
    "remoteToolsDeviceName": "rcchn0259",
    "epitaxyPrefs": {
      "starred-local-code-sessions": [],
      "starred-cowork-spaces": [],
      "starred-session-groups": [],
      "dframe-group-scopes": {},
      "dframe-local-slice": {
        "pinnedOrder": [],
        "homeProjectsPinnedOrder": []
      },
      "ccd-sessions-filter": {
        "state": {
          "selectedProjects": []
        },
        "version": 0
      },
      "desktop-frame.paneStore.v1": {
        "state": {
          "extraPanesByMode": {},
          "colWeightsByMode": {},
          "rowSplit": 0.5,
          "draftNonce": 0
        },
        "version": 4
      }
    }
  }
}

But still this doesn't connect the MCP Server, it fails. Please help.
I created a wrapper script as well and modified the JSON point to that as well.

const { spawn } = require('child_process');

const child = spawn('npx', ['-y', 'nowaikit'], {
  env: process.env,
  stdio: ['inherit', 'pipe', 'inherit']
});

child.stdout.on('data', (data) => {
  const lines = data.toString().split('\n');
  for (const line of lines) {
    const trimmed = line.trim();
    if (trimmed.startsWith('{') && trimmed.endsWith('}')) {
      process.stdout.write(line + '\n');
    }
  }
});

child.on('exit', (code) => {
  process.exit(code);
});

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "webpage-mcp": {
      "command": "cmd.exe",
      "args": [
        "/c",
        "npx",
        "-y",
        "-p",
        "webpage-mcp@latest",
        "webpage-mcp-stdio"
      ]
    },
    "nowaikit": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "C:\\Users\\USERPROFILE_NAMEi\\nowaikit-wrapper.js"
      ],
      "env": {
        "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://dev*****.service-now.com",
        "SERVICENOW_BASIC_USERNAME": "mcp_admin",
        "SERVICENOW_BASIC_PASSWORD": "THE_PASSWORD",
        "WRITE_ENABLED": "true",
        "SCRIPTING_ENABLED": "true"
      }
    }
  }
}

Still the nowaikit fails to run.

NOTE - mcp_admin is configured with Identity type = Machine and Internal Integration User - checked.

Please help.

Request - Once again, requesting specific answers that can troubleshoot the issue, no article links, product documentation links, etc.

Regards,

Anish

Hardik Benani · an hour ago

Hey Anish,

this is something I am actively involved in building and managing, I will have a look.

Anish Reghu · an hour ago

Hi Hardik,

So good to hear from you again after a long time.

Surprisingly, this worked in Cursor yesterday (felt short of free tokens and next reset is 19 days alas), but when I tried using Claude (actually should be more easy on Claude, since MCP Server happens to be a Anthropic brainchild) but doesn't work.

Anish Reghu · 59m ago

Also, here is a summary of all the diagnostic and troubleshooting steps I have taken so far:

1. Initial Diagnosis

Root Cause Identified: The nowaikit server prints ASCII art welcome banners and command help text directly to standard output (stdout) upon startup.
The Error: Claude Desktop expects a pure JSON-RPC stream over stdout. The extra text corrupted the stream, triggering syntax errors like Unexpected token '█' and Unexpected token 'N' and closing the server transport.

2. Configuration Adjustment (Windows Path Execution)

Modified claude_desktop_config.json to wrap the npx execution command inside cmd.exe /c and updated package parameters to align with standard Windows MCP configurations.

3. Custom Wrapper Script Setup (nowaikit-wrapper.js)

Created Wrapper Script: Wrote a Node.js stream-filtering script designed to intercept stdout from nowaikit, stripping out ASCII banners and forwarding only lines formatted as valid JSON objects ({ ... }).
Saved in User Profile: Placed the file in the user directory (C:\Users\<USER_NAME>\nowaikit-wrapper.js) to avoid C-drive administrative permission blocks.
Updated Config: Configured claude_desktop_config.json to invoke node on the wrapper file using escaped JSON double backslashes (C:\\Users\\<USER_NAME>\\nowaikit-wrapper.js).

4. Process & State Cleanup

Targeted Zombie Processes: Identified that crashed transport connections leave background node.exe and invisible Claude.exe helper processes running, preventing configuration changes from taking effect.
Terminated Background Tasks: Closed lingering background tasks via Task Manager and command line (taskkill /f /im node.exe and taskkill /f /im Claude.exe).

5. Reverting to Built-In Setup Wizard

Reverted claude_desktop_config.json back to its standard clean configuration block.
Executed the package’s native interactive setup wizard directly in terminal (npx nowaikit setup) to let the tool auto-detect and register itself with Claude Desktop natively.

Regards,
Anish

Hardik Benani · 45m ago

Your diagnosis is exactly right, the banner and help text on stdout corrupts the JSON-RPC stream. This was an edge case and it's fixed that at the source in nowaikit@4.7.1: when it's launched by an MCP client (no subcommand, piped stdio) it starts the server directly and prints nothing to stdout. So you can delete the wrapper script, it's no longer needed.

The reason your retries kept failing, including the setup wizard, is npx caching. You've run npx nowaikit many times, so npx has the old banner-printing build cached and keeps reusing it for the bare package name. The fix is to force the new version:

1. Set the package to nowaikit@latest (this is what makes npx fetch 4.7.1):

"nowaikit": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "nowaikit@latest"],
   "env": {
       "SERVICENOW_INSTANCE_URL": "https://devXXXXX.service-now.com",
       "SERVICENOW_BASIC_USERNAME": "mcp_admin",
       "SERVICENOW_BASIC_PASSWORD": "your-password",
       "WRITE_ENABLED": "true",
       "SCRIPTING_ENABLED": "true"
     }
}

2. Kill the lingering processes as you did before (taskkill /f /im node.exe and taskkill /f /im Claude.exe), then reopen Claude Desktop.

If it still runs an old copy, clear the npx cache once and reopen: delete the folder %LocalAppData%\npm-cache\_npx (or run npm cache clean --force).

I verified this end to end against the published 4.7.1: npx -y nowaikit@latest returns a clean JSON-RPC handshake with no banner, so it connects.

One last thing once it's connected: your note says mcp_admin is a Machine / Internal Integration User. So confirm mcp_admin actually has a password set and that basic auth is allowed for it, I guess with latest release you have to add the user to one of the role to allow basic auth, otherwise you'll get 401s once the server is talking, in which case set a password on that user or switch to OAuth.

Let me know how it goes.