Troubleshooting the connection

"Selv cannot find a usable MCP server"

Selv looks for its server in a short list of known places rather than your shell's general PATH — the common Homebrew and system Node locations. If none of them have Node, or the bundled server itself is missing, the client reports it can't start Selv's server at all. Reinstalling Selv is the usual fix; a repo checkout can also run the server directly for anyone building from source.

"Server failed to start"

Usually the same cause as above — no usable Node interpreter found — or the client's config points at a server build too old to speak Selv's current authentication, in which case Selv ignores it rather than connecting a client to a server it can't trust.

Claude Code rewrites its own config

Claude Code keeps its settings in a file it rewrites constantly, so Selv hands you a command to run once (claude mcp add …) instead of editing that file directly — see Set up your client.

Errors from inside your AI tool

If the connection reaches Selv but something's still wrong, the tool itself will usually show one of these:

• No token / not authorized — open Selv → Settings → AI Agents and click Authorize for that client.
• Vault is locked — unlock Selv and try again.
• Selv is asking its owner to approve this — a Touch ID prompt is waiting on the Mac; approve it there, then retry.
• Access was just declined — don't keep retrying; check with whoever owns the Mac.
• Cannot reach Selv — make sure Selv is running and unlocked.

Still stuck?

Email support@selv.io with the exact error your client showed and which one you're using.