Use alwaysLoad MCP servers sooner

Exempt a server from deferral

If a server's tools should always be visible to Claude without a search step, set alwaysLoad to true in that server's configuration. Every tool from that server then loads into context at session start regardless of the ENABLE_TOOL_SEARCH setting. Use this for a small number of tools that Claude needs on every turn, since each upfront tool consumes context that would otherwise be available for your conversation.

The following .mcp.json entry exempts one HTTP server while leaving other servers deferred:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "core-tools": {
      "type": "http",
      "url": "https://mcp.example.com/mcp",
      "alwaysLoad": true
    }
  }
}

The alwaysLoad field is available on all server types. An MCP server can also mark individual tools as always-loaded by including "anthropic/alwaysLoad": true in the tool's _meta object, which has the same effect for that tool only.

Setting alwaysLoad: true also makes startup wait for the server's tools, capped at the standard 5-second connect timeout, since they must be present when the first prompt is built. A remote server with a valid cached entry supplies its tools from the cache without connecting, so it doesn't hold startup. Other servers connect in the background by default; set MCP_CONNECTION_NONBLOCKING=0 to make startup wait for them too.