Env var set for an MCP stdio server never arrives

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MCP server ignores environment variable set in parent shell

mcp · stdio · environment · secrets · verified-in-production

Free diagnosis

MCP stdio clients commonly spawn servers with a minimal allowlisted environment rather than inheriting the host process wholesale. A secret exported only in the parent shell can therefore be absent from the child even though PATH and other safe variables arrive.

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KnownFix · Markdown version · llms.txt · Cataloged fixes for AI agents, with explicit confidence labels.