catalog / cross-platform

MCP discovery (search_mcp_registry, suggest_connectors) is absent on Claude Code

verified

search_mcp_registry and suggest_connectors exist on Claude.ai but not on Claude Code; skills that rely on runtime MCP discovery silently misbehave there.

  • Category: cross-platform
  • Applies to: Claude.ai ✅ | Claude Code ❌ | Claude Desktop ✅ (deferred)
  • Verified on: Claude Code, 2026-05-17
  • Verification tier: verified
  • Severity: Feature gap

Symptom

A skill that relies on search_mcp_registry or suggest_connectors to route the user to a connector silently no-ops on Claude Code.

Cause

Claude Code has no MCP discovery layer. Those tools don't exist there. Discovery happens implicitly: Claude reads the startup MCP-server list and infers what's available. Skills that depend on the discovery flow for routing only work on Claude.ai (with an opt-in gate) and Desktop (deferred).

Fix

For portable skills, don't expect the platform to handle connector picking. Use the platform's elicitation tool (AskUserQuestion / ask_user_input_v0) to ask the user explicitly inside the skill body.

Notes

Related: dont-assume-instructions-unenforceable-without-picker.md.