Unable to enable auto-approve for MCP tool

[stefan-girlich]

Plugin Type

VSCode Extension

Cline Version

3.38.3

What happened?

Checking the "auto-approve" box immediately disables it again.

Steps to reproduce

1. Open new chat
2. Ask for usage of MCP, e.g. PostgreSQL Reader; tool widget with "Auto-approve" checkbox appears
3. Click "Auto-approve"

• "Auto-approve" appears checked for a split second, but immediately unchecked again.
• in cline_mcp_settings.json, "autoApprove": [], briefly changes to "autoApprove": ["query"],, then back again

The same issue exists for the "Auto-approve" checkbox or the checkbox "Auto-approve all tools" in the menu MCP Servers > Configure.

It is also not possible to edit the file directly; changes are immediately reverted. I first assumed that Cline reacts to config file changes by applying the last know config state which is is the one without the added auto-approve permission, but enabling and disabling the same MCP server via the "MCP Servers" overlay works as expected ("disabled" is updated and not reverted).

Weirdly, the issue only exists for "github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/postgres", but i.e. not for "github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers/tree/main/src/git". I tried removing and re-installing the former via UI, but I see "Missing README content in MCP download response" when trying to install it from the Marketplace tab.

Provider/Model

openrouter:anthropic/claude-sonnet-4.5

System Information

MacOS 15.6.1

[linear[bot]]

CLINE-254

[Debjyoti2004]

Hi @juanpflores @stefan-girlich , could you please assign this issue to me? I’d like to work on it. Thank you!

[stefan-girlich]

@Debjyoti2004 I cannot assign issues in this project, but I think you don't need an active assignment to create a PR.

[formixcode]

same here

[juanpflores]

✅ @Debjyoti2004 I've assigned this issue to you. Let us know if you need any help. Looking forward to a pull request. Thanks for your help.

[viktor-ferenczi]

Same here with Linux, VSCode + Cline. It is really a blocker, because I continuously have to click on Approve to do anything.

[viktor-ferenczi]

Pre-filling the autoApprove list in the mcp.json does not work either, the list just gets ignored and the UI checkbox is broken. There is no config option to auto-approve all MCP tools as a (not too safe) workaround either. No, I don't want full YOLO mode.

{
    "se1-plugin-dev": {
      "autoApprove": [
        "find_files",
        "get_file_summary",
        "refresh_index",
        "build_deep_index",
        "get_settings_info",
        "create_temp_directory",
        "check_temp_directory",
        "clear_settings",
        "refresh_search_tools",
        "get_file_watcher_status",
        "configure_file_watcher",
        "get_file_content"
      ],
      "disabled": false,
      "timeout": 60,
      "type": "stdio",
      "command": "uvx",
      "args": [
        "code-index-mcp",
        "--project-path",
        "C:\\Dev\\SE1\\MCP\\se-mcp-for-plugin-dev\\Decompiled"
      ],
      "cwd": "C:\\Dev\\SE1\\MCP\\se-mcp-for-plugin-dev"
    }
}

[macsche83]

same here.

in my setup with cursor cline also started using some non existing mcps. is there already a ticket for that or related to this? for instance i added the mcp-atlassian-api, nevertheleass after the second call it starts creating weird mcp, whih clooks like this: Cline wants to use a tool on the **cFrt4** MCP server: instead of Cline wants to use a tool on the **mcp-atlassian-api** MCP server:

a restart of cursor or deactive and reactive of the cline extension works, but just also once then it starts fantasizing again