Unable to start MCP via 'npx' when node is installed with 'nvs', but okay if installed globally

[thesunlover]

I am using nvs to setup node, so I have the following setup for my vscode:
.vscode\settings.json:

{
  "terminal.integrated.env.windows": {
    "PATH": "%localappdata%/nvs/node/22.17.0/x64;${env:PATH}"
  },
  "eslint.nodePath": "%localappdata%/nvs/node/22.17.0/x64",
  "chat.mcp.discovery.enabled": true,
  "chat.agent.enabled": true
}

.vscode/mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
      "salesforce": {
          "type": "stdio",
          "command": "npx",
          "args": [
              "-y",
              "@salesforce/mcp",
              "--orgs",
              "myOrg",
              "--toolsets",
              "all"
          ]
      }
  }
}

The error I am getting is:
The command "npx" needed to run salesforce was not found. as on the screenshot below:

The error in the MCP console looks like this:

2025-07-09 18:30:31.081 [info] Connection state: Starting
2025-07-09 18:30:31.087 [info] Starting server from LocalProcess extension host
2025-07-09 18:30:31.139 [info] Connection state: Starting
2025-07-09 18:30:31.140 [info] Connection state: Error spawn npx ENOENT

adding PATH environment still didn't help:

          "env": {
            "PATH": "%localappdata%/nvs/node/22.17.0/x64;${env:PATH}"
          }

Then I finally tried to install globally and update the config to:

{
  "servers": {
      "salesforce": {
          "type": "stdio",
          "command": "C:\\Users\\myuser\\AppData\\Local\\nvs\\node\\22.17.0\\x64\\sf-mcp-server.cmd",
          "args": [
              "--orgs",
              "myOrg",
              "--toolsets",
              "all"
          ]
      }
  }
}

another working mcp.json:

{
  "servers": {
      "salesforce": {
          "type": "stdio",
          "command": "C:\\Users\\myuser\\AppData\\Local\\nvs\\node\\22.17.0\\x64\\npx.cmd",
          "args": [
              "-y",
              "@salesforce/mcp",
              "--orgs",
              "myOrg",
              "--toolsets",
              "all"
          ]
      }
  }
}

[cristiand391]

The command "npx" needed to run salesforce was not found. as on the screenshot below:

this sounds more like a vscode setup issue.

the terminal.integrated.env.windows for manually adding the nvs dirst to $PATH looks good but I wonder if that only applies to the vscode terminal and not when its MCP client spawns the npx process.

suggestion:
in a terminal session where node and npx commands work, try launching vscode from it like:
code .

and start the sf MCP server.
That way the vscode process inherits the node/npx paths that are already in your PATH.

When you start vscode from a launcher/double-clicking on it it might skip any shell setup process (like nvm,nvs, most node version managers) that you set up in your shell profile file.