Desktop App Background Workers

Issue

The Desktop app was not auto-installing MCP servers detected in agents because the background workers were not being started.

Root Cause

Web App (src/McpManager.Web/Program.cs):

  • Uses ASP.NET Core's built-in hosted service infrastructure
  • Background workers are registered with AddHostedService<T>()
  • ASP.NET Core automatically starts and manages their lifecycle

Desktop App (src/McpManager.Desktop/Program.cs):

  • Uses Photino.Blazor instead of ASP.NET Core
  • Photino does not have IHostedService support
  • Background workers were registered but never started

The Fix

Updated src/McpManager.Desktop/Program.cs to manually start background workers:

// Register background workers as singletons
appBuilder.Services.AddSingleton<RegistryRefreshWorker>();
appBuilder.Services.AddSingleton<AgentServerSyncWorker>();
appBuilder.Services.AddSingleton<DownloadStatsWorker>();
appBuilder.Services.AddSingleton<ConfigurationWatcherWorker>();

// Start them manually after app is built
var cancellationTokenSource = new CancellationTokenSource();
StartBackgroundWorkers(app.Services, cancellationTokenSource.Token);

Background Workers

1. AgentServerSyncWorker (Most Important for Your Issue)

  • Purpose: Auto-installs servers detected in agent configurations
  • Interval: Every 5 minutes, plus initial sync after 5 seconds
  • What it does:
    1. Detects installed agents (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, GitHub Copilot, etc.)
    2. Reads their configuration files to find configured MCP servers
    3. Searches registries for matching servers
    4. Auto-installs any servers not already in MCP Manager
    5. Creates agent-server relationships

2. RegistryRefreshWorker

  • Purpose: Refreshes cached registry data
  • Interval: Every 60 minutes
  • What it does:
    1. Fetches latest server lists from all registries
    2. Updates the database cache
    3. Ensures browse/search results are up-to-date

3. DownloadStatsWorker

  • Purpose: Updates package download statistics
  • Interval: Every 120 minutes
  • What it does:
    1. Fetches download counts from npm, PyPI, etc.
    2. Updates popularity metrics for servers

4. ConfigurationWatcherWorker

  • Purpose: Monitors agent config files for external changes
  • What it does:
    1. Watches ~/.claude.json and other agent config files
    2. Raises events when files change
    3. Enables real-time UI updates when configs are edited externally

Lifecycle Management

Web App: Handled by ASP.NET Core

  • Workers start automatically with the application
  • Workers stop gracefully on shutdown

Desktop App: Manual management (post-fix)

  • Workers are started manually after app builds
  • Cancellation token is canceled on ProcessExit
  • Workers stop gracefully on application exit

Expected Behavior (Post-Fix)

When you start the Desktop app:

  1. After 5 seconds, AgentServerSyncWorker runs its initial sync
  2. It detects your ~/.claude.json file and finds the "github" server
  3. It searches registries for a matching server definition
  4. If found in a registry, it installs the full server metadata
  5. If not found, it creates a minimal entry marked as "auto-discovered"
  6. It creates the agent-server relationship in the database
  7. The server appears in your installed servers list
  8. Every 5 minutes, it checks again for new servers

Verification

To verify the fix is working:

  1. Build and run the Desktop app:

    dotnet build src/McpManager.Desktop
dotnet run --project src/McpManager.Desktop

  2. Check logs (console output):

    • You should see: "Agent Server Sync Worker starting"
    • After 5 seconds: "Syncing servers from X detected agent(s)"
    • Look for: "Auto-installed server 'github' from agent claudecode"

  3. Check the UI:

    • Navigate to "Installed Servers"
    • You should see any servers from your ~/.claude.json file
    • They should be linked to the "Claude Code" agent

Troubleshooting

If servers still aren't auto-installing:

  1. Check if Claude Code is detected:

    • Go to the "Agents" page
    • Verify "Claude Code" shows as detected
    • Check that it shows the correct config path

  2. Check logs for errors:

    • Look for "Agent sync worker error" messages
    • Check for "Failed to sync agent servers" errors

  3. Verify config file exists:

    • Ensure ~/.claude.json exists
    • Verify it has valid JSON
    • Check the mcpServers section has entries

  4. Manual sync:

    • The sync runs every 5 minutes
    • Restart the app to trigger an immediate sync
    • Or wait 5 seconds + 5 minutes for the next automatic sync
Edit this page