[BUG] /mcp interactive dialog replaced by plain text output in VSCode extension since 2.1.205

[8hatch8]

Preflight Checklist

• I have searched existing issues and this hasn't been reported yet
• This is a single bug report
• I am using the latest version of Claude Code

What's Wrong?

The /mcp command in the VSCode extension chat panel no longer opens the interactive management dialog. Instead, it displays a plain text summary:

8 MCP server(s): 4 connected, 0 not connected, 4 disabled.
Use /mcp in the terminal for details.

The VS Code documentation still describes the expected behavior:

Type /mcp in the chat panel. The MCP management dialog lets you enable or disable servers, reconnect to a server, and manage OAuth authentication.

Without the dialog, there is no way to enable/disable/reconnect MCP servers from the VSCode extension — users must switch to the terminal.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Open Claude Code in VS Code extension (chat panel, not terminal mode)
2. Type /mcp and submit

Expected Behavior

The interactive MCP management dialog opens, allowing enable/disable/reconnect of servers.

Actual Behavior

A one-line text summary is printed. No interactive dialog appears.

Bisect

Version	Dialog?
2.1.204	✅ Yes
2.1.205	❌ No (text only)
2.1.207	❌ No (text only)

Other built-in slash commands (/help, /config) work normally on all versions tested.

Environment

Claude Code extension	2.1.207
VS Code	1.128.0 (fc3def6)
Electron	42.5.0
OS	macOS Darwin arm64 25.5.0

Workaround

Run claude mcp commands in the integrated terminal, or downgrade to 2.1.204.

[danielytan]

Confirming this on my setup, and adding a data point that widens the scope beyond /mcp: /model is broken with the identical bisect, so this isn't MCP-specific — the extension seems to have stopped routing native-dialog slash commands to the webview generally.

On 2.1.204 /model opens the interactive picker; on 2.1.205 it prints the plain-text fallback into the chat instead:

Current model: Opus 4.8 (1M context) (effort: xhigh)
Usage: /model <name>. Available: sonnet, opus, haiku, fable, best, sonnet[1m], opus[1m], fable[1m], opusplan, default, or a full model ID.

/config behaves the same way — instead of opening the settings UI it prints its Usage: /config key=value [key=value ...] list into the chat. (This differs from the OP's note that /config "works normally" — worth another look; it may depend on setup.)

Version	/model picker	/config UI
2.1.204	✅	✅
2.1.205	❌ (text)	❌ (text)
2.1.206–2.1.208	❌ (text)	❌ (text)

Same environment as the OP: extension 2.1.208, VS Code 1.128.0, macOS arm64 (Darwin 25.5.0), chat panel (not terminal mode). Workaround for /model is the arg form /model <name>, which skips the picker.

[lonedfx]

I have the same issues with both /mcp and /model

[github-actions]

Closing for now — inactive for too long. Please open a new issue if this is still relevant.

[marcindulak]

This issue was incorrectly closed by the github-actions, despite originally having reproduction steps and Claude version. This bot behavior is tracked in #87647. Consider upvoting that issue for visibilty, maybe the bot behavior gets fixed.

In the same issue you'll also find out that to prevent your issue from being closed you need to periodically comment on it or collect at least 10 thumbs up (upvotes).