[Bug]: Repo-local Laravel Boost MCP server is not exposed in workspaces

[bjoernzosel]

Platform

macOS

Operating system version

macOS Tahoe 26.3

System architecture

ARM64 (M1, M2, etc)

PolyScope Version

0.9.1

Bug description

In a Laravel project, a repo-local MCP server for Laravel Boost is present in the Polyscope workspace clone and starts cleanly, but it is not exposed as a tool inside the workspace.

Expected behavior:
Since the workspace contains the repo's .mcp.json, I expected Laravel Boost to be picked up automatically and be available as a tool.

Actual behavior:
The workspace contains .mcp.json, but Laravel Boost is not available as a tool.

What I verified inside the Polyscope workspace:

• .mcp.json exists in the workspace
• php resolves correctly
• php artisan boost:mcp starts cleanly
• stdout = 0 bytes
• stderr = 0 bytes
• the process waits on stdin as expected for a stdio MCP server

I also tested a minimal Boost-only .mcp.json, with the same result.

Relevant .mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "laravel-boost": {
      "command": "php",
        "args": ["artisan", "boost:mcp"]
    }
  }
}

This makes it look like the repo-local MCP server is present and startable, but Polyscope does not bind or auto-pick it up in this workspace scenario.

Steps to reproduce

1. Create a Laravel project with Laravel Boost installed.
2. Add a repo-local .mcp.json with laravel-boost configured as command = php and args = ["artisan", "boost:mcp"].
3. Open the project in Polyscope.
4. Create a new workspace from that project.
5. Check whether Laravel Boost is available as a tool in the workspace.
6. In the workspace terminal, run php artisan boost:mcp and observe that it starts cleanly and waits for stdin without producing output.
7. Compare that with the workspace UI, where Laravel Boost is still not exposed as a tool.

Relevant log output

[bjoernzosel]

I found a workaround:

In my setup, Laravel Boost now works in both Codex and PolyScope after adding a project-local Codex config with an explicit cwd and an absolute PHP path:

[mcp_servers.laravel-boost]
command = "/path/to/php"
args = ["artisan", "boost:mcp"]
cwd = "/path/to/laravel-project"
enabled = true

I suspect the underlying root cause is in the Codex MCP/workspace layer that PolyScope builds on, not in Laravel Boost itself.

However, I am leaving this issue open because the user-visible failure still occurs in PolyScope workspaces, so it remains relevant here as a downstream integration issue.

[bjoernzosel]

For some reason since yesterday the workaround works in Codex, but not in Polyscope any longer...