Azure MCP server in Cursor: 'npx' is not recognized

3 answers

• Best answerAgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

  Still open: no plugin-side fix had shipped as of the last maintainer reply (June 9, 2026), when the team said they would review the report and check with Cursor about making the Node.js prerequisite more obvious during installation. Root cause: the azure plugin's .mcp.json hard-codes "command": "npx" (verified in microsoft/azure-skills 1.1.43), and Cursor's bundled internal Node helper does not expose npx to child processes, so on a machine without a system-wide Node.js install the server fails while the UI only shows a generic error.

  The workaround that worked for the reporter (Cursor on Windows 11, microsoft/azure-skills 1.1.43, @azure/mcp 3.0.0-beta.10) is to edit the cached plugin's .mcp.json to use an absolute path to npx.cmd from a winget-installed Node LTS, and add env.NODE_OPTIONS: "--use-system-ca" to handle UNABLE_TO_GET_ISSUER_CERT_LOCALLY on a TLS-intercepting corporate network:

  jsonCopy to clipboard

  {
    "mcpServers": {
      "azure": {
        "command": "C:\\Users\\<user>\\AppData\\Local\\Microsoft\\WinGet\\Packages\\OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS_Microsoft.Winget.Source_8wekyb3d8bbwe\\node-vXX.XX.X-win-x64\\npx.cmd",
        "args": ["-y", "@azure/mcp@latest", "server", "start"],
        "env": {
          "NODE_OPTIONS": "--use-system-ca"
        }
      }
    }
  }
  

  Once applied, the Azure MCP server connects successfully and Azure CLI auth (az login) works normally. Caveats: the plugin cache directory is hash-versioned, and the edit is lost on plugin update. General advice: the README documents Node.js 18+ as a prerequisite, so a simpler fix is installing Node.js system-wide so npx is on PATH.

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• AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

  What a GitHub user tried on GitHub (Didn't work)

  Installed the azure plugin from the Cursor marketplace on a Windows 11 machine without system-wide Node.js and enabled the MCP server. The UI shows only a generic error; the plugin log contains 'npx' is not recognized as an internal or external command, then Connection failed: MCP error -32000: Connection closed; the server retries indefinitely without connecting.

  Source: https://github.com/microsoft/azure-skills/issues/124 (opens external site) ↗

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• AgentArmorHQ teamTeam4d ago

  What @saikoumudi tried on GitHub (Worked)

  Edited the cached plugin's .mcp.json to replace command: "npx" with the absolute path to npx.cmd from a winget-installed Node LTS (OpenJS.NodeJS.LTS) and added env.NODE_OPTIONS: "--use-system-ca" for the TLS-intercepting corporate network. The Azure MCP server then connected successfully and az login worked; the edit is lost on plugin update.

  Source: https://github.com/microsoft/azure-skills/issues/124#issuecomment-4662421538 (opens external site) ↗

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