Resolving MCP Region Configs

Regional MCP Server Configuration

Mandatory Step 0 Pre-Flight Check

[!IMPORTANT] Pre-Flight Check Before Using Dataproc / Regional Services or Falling Back to CLI: Whenever a task involves a regional Google Cloud service (e.g. Dataproc clusters, Spark batches, jobs, or sessions): 1. Check for MCP tools first: Before executing any gcloud dataproc or CLI commands, check whether the expected mcp__*__<service>__* tools (e.g. mcp__*__dataproc__*) are registered in the current environment (ToolSearch or deferred tools). 2. If tools are missing or calls fail/hang on a malformed host: Do NOT immediately fall back to gcloud/bq CLI. Inspect the live MCP configuration files (below) for unreplaced $GCP_REGION, ${REGION}, or ${user_config.GCP_REGION} placeholders. 3. If the region placeholder is already replaced with a valid region (e.g. us-central1): This skill does not apply — proceed normally with the task.

Some Google Cloud MCP servers are region-scoped (e.g. Dataproc: https://dataproc-$GCP_REGION.googleapis.com/mcp). If the region placeholder was never filled in, the server fails to connect silently — it registers zero tools, with no error and no placeholder string visible anywhere to notice. Treat a missing mcp__*__<service>__* tool as the trigger, not just a failed call — that's the most common way this skill gets skipped in favor of a gcloud/bq fallback.

When to use

• User asks to use a regional service (e.g. "list dataproc clusters"), and the matching mcp__* tools aren't present — check ToolSearch or the deferred-tools listing first — or a call to one fails/hangs on a malformed host.
• Then inspect the live config (below) for $GCP_REGION, ${REGION}, or ${user_config.GCP_REGION}. If found, run the procedure. If the region is already set, this skill doesn't apply — investigate normally instead.

Supported services

• Dataproc: https://dataproc-$GCP_REGION.googleapis.com/mcp

Locating the live config

The file actually loaded at runtime is under the plugin's install/cache path, not just any workspace copy — edit that one (and the source copy, best-effort, so the fix survives a reinstall):

• Claude Code: ~/.claude/plugins/cache/<marketplace>/dak/<version>/.claude-mcp.json (get <marketplace>/<version> from ~/.claude/plugins/installed_plugins.json). Also check ./.claude-mcp.json and claude_desktop_config.json.
• Codex: ~/.codex/plugins/cache/**/dak/**/.mcp.json (or mcp.json). Also check ~/.agents/plugins/dak/.mcp.json, ./.mcp.json, and ~/.codex/config.toml ([mcp_servers.<name>]).
• Antigravity: ./mcp_config.json or ~/.gemini/antigravity/mcp_config.json.

Procedure

1. You MUST NOT call the regional tools yet — there likely aren't any to call.

2. You MUST ask the user for their GCP region (e.g. us-central1). You MUST NOT guess.

3. You MUST edit the placeholder to that region in the config file(s) above.

4. You MUST tell the user to restart — MCP connections load once at startup and won't hot-reload mid-session. Restarting does not lose the conversation:

   • Claude Code: claude --resume (or --continue)
   • Codex: codex resume --last (or codex resume for a picker)
   • Antigravity: use its resume/history picker if available

5. For this request only, it's fine to fall back to gcloud/bq CLI once so the user isn't blocked — say explicitly that it's a one-time fallback and that the MCP tools should be used after the restart, so the workaround doesn't become silently permanent.