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docs: Add troubleshooting guide for MCP ENAMETOOLONG error on macOS #8389

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27 changes: 26 additions & 1 deletion docs/troubleshooting.mdx
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Original file line number Diff line number Diff line change
Expand Up @@ -7,7 +7,8 @@ description: "Comprehensive guide to resolving common issues with Continue, incl
2. [Try the latest pre-release](#download-the-latest-pre-release)
3. [Download an older version](#download-an-older-version)
4. [Resolve keyboard shortcut issues](#keyboard-shortcuts-not-resolving)
5. [Check FAQs for common issues](/faqs)
5. [MCP Server connection issues](#mcp-server-connection-issues)
6. [Check FAQs for common issues](/faqs)

## Check the logs

Expand Down Expand Up @@ -79,6 +80,30 @@ If your keyboard shortcuts are not resolving, you may have other commands that a
- [VSCode keyboard shortcuts docs](https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/getstarted/keybindings)
- [IntelliJ keyboard shortcut docs](https://www.jetbrains.com/help/idea/configuring-keyboard-and-mouse-shortcuts.html)

## MCP Server connection issues

### "spawn ENAMETOOLONG" error on macOS

If you're seeing an error like `Failed to connect to "<MCP Server Name>"` with `Error: spawn ENAMETOOLONG` when using MCP servers on macOS, this is due to the environment being too large when spawning the MCP process.

**Workaround:** Use the full path to the command instead of relying on PATH resolution:

```yaml
mcpServers:
- name: Memory MCP server
command: /usr/local/bin/npx # Use full path instead of just "npx"
args:
- -y
- "@modelcontextprotocol/server-memory"
```

To find the full path to a command on your system:
- For `npx`: run `which npx`
- For `docker`: run `which docker`
- For `uv`/`uvx`: run `which uv` or `which uvx`

This issue typically affects macOS users with large development environments and is being tracked in [#7870](https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/7870) and [#6699](https://github.com/continuedev/continue/issues/6699).


## Still having trouble?

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