MCP error -32001: Request timed out (Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor) when an MCP server starts slowly or a tool call takes longer than about 60 seconds

Cause: MCP clients wait a fixed time for each request. The TypeScript SDK default is 60 seconds per request, and a client raises -32001 when the server neither answers nor sends progress in time. Common triggers: the first launch downloads the server with npx or uvx (slow on first run or behind a proxy), the server loads a model or connects to a database at startup, or a tool does long work (builds, crawls, big queries) in one blocking call. A server that hangs on startup, for example waiting for an OAuth login or an unset environment variable, shows the same error. How to check: run the server's command yourself in a terminal (or with the MCP Inspector) and time how long startup and the slow tool take; read the client's MCP log for the exact request that timed out. Fix: 1. Raise the client's timeout where it's configurable. In Claude Code, MCP_TIMEOUT sets the server startup timeout and MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT the tool-call timeout (both in milliseconds, set in the environment or the env section of settings). Other clients have their own setting; check their docs. 2. Make startup fast: preinstall the server package (npm install -g or uv tool install) and point the config at the installed command instead of downloading through npx/uvx on every start; defer heavy initialization until the first tool call. 3. For long tools, send progress notifications during the work (supported by the MCP SDKs) so clients that reset the timer on progress keep waiting, or change the tool to start a job and return a job id plus a second tool that checks status. 4. Fix hangs rather than hiding them: missing environment variables, credentials or interactive prompts at startup. After: restart the client and run the slow tool once more; if it still times out at exactly the same duration, the timeout setting isn't being applied for that client version, so prefer the job-id pattern. Sources: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/settings https://mcpcat.io/guides/fixing-mcp-error-32001-request-timeout/ https://github.com/anthropics/claude-code/issues/16837