Skip to main content

command not found: userintuition-mcp

The binary isn’t on your PATH. Pick the install style you used and verify:
If which is empty, your global npm bin directory isn’t on PATH. Run npm config get prefix and add <prefix>/bin to PATH.

No authentication found

The CLI couldn’t read USERINTUITION_API_KEY from its environment. Common causes:
  1. Not exported in the current shell.
  2. Set in ~/.zshrc but the shell didn’t reload. Open a new terminal or source ~/.zshrc.
  3. Running under sudo or a different user. sudo strips most env vars — prefix the call: sudo USERINTUITION_API_KEY=ui_sk_... userintuition-mcp call …
  4. CI secret not wired. Confirm the variable is set as a secret in your CI provider and exposed to the step that runs the CLI.

401 Unauthorized from the backend

The key is read but the backend rejected it.
  • Revoked or rotated. Generate a new key at app.userintuition.ai → Settings → API Keys and update your environment.
  • Wrong environment. Production keys (ui_sk_live_...) don’t work against staging and vice versa. Check BACKEND_URL if you’ve overridden it.
  • Typo / wrapping whitespace. echo "$USERINTUITION_API_KEY" | wc -c — should match expected key length (no trailing newline issues).

Invalid input for <tool>: …

Zod schema validation failed before the CLI tried to call the backend. The error message names the offending field.
Re-read the schema:
Common variants:
  • Missing required flag. Add it.
  • String where a number/boolean/array is expected. Make sure the value is JSON-parseable: --n 25 not --n "twenty-five"; --options '["A","B"]' not --options A,B.
  • Nested objects. Use --input-json rather than flags.

Tool call hangs or times out

Network egress to api.userintuition.ai may be blocked or slow.
If the curl works but the CLI hangs, the tool may legitimately be long-running (e.g. generate_powerpoint). Check the equivalent operation in the dashboard — if it normally takes minutes, the CLI behaves the same way. If you’re on a corporate network, confirm a proxy hasn’t TLS-intercepted the connection. Node respects HTTPS_PROXY; set it explicitly if needed.

EACCES / permission denied on the binary

After a manual tsc build, dist/index.js may not be executable.
npm publish handles this automatically — only a concern for local builds.

Output isn’t valid JSON

The CLI writes the tool’s text response verbatim to stdout. Most tools return JSON; a few (e.g. PowerPoint generation) return a URL or status string. Use userintuition-mcp describe <tool> to confirm the response shape, and check whether the tool returned an {"error": …} envelope on a logical failure. If stderr contents are being mixed into your pipe, redirect them out: userintuition-mcp call … 2>/dev/null | jq ..

Still stuck?

Run the equivalent MCP call through the official inspector to isolate whether the issue is the CLI or the underlying tool:
If it reproduces there, the bug is in the tool or the backend — open an issue at github.com/userintuition. If it only reproduces in the CLI, please include the exact command, your CLI version (npm ls -g @userintuition-ai/mcp), and Node version (node --version).