Installation troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Plugin installed on the account, but no skills appear | Claude Desktop has not reloaded its plugins | Quit Claude Desktop completely, including from the system tray, and reopen it. In the Code tab the skills appear only after Claude Desktop is reopened |
| Adding the marketplace fails, or the marketplace is refused | Organization policy blocks third-party marketplaces, or the network blocks GitHub | Ask the administrator to allow the novocircle marketplace, or use managed settings (Enterprise fleet deployment) if policy allows. Otherwise use the organization's own provisioning |
No AI Power Tools tools in a Claude Desktop chat or Claude Cowork session, and the Claude Desktop log (main.log in %LOCALAPPDATA%\Claude\Logs) has a line containing localMcpBridge: ensureAllConfiguredConnected timed out after 10000ms |
Claude Desktop waits ten seconds for all of its local servers to connect and starts the session without the ones still starting. This happens when several extensions start together on a slow or busy machine | Reconnect the extension in Settings, Extensions (switch it off and on), or start a new session. The server answers initialize before any network, skills or EA work, so it is rarely the late one; if it is, close other applications that start heavy extensions and retry |
Skills are present but ping does not answer, or the assistant says no AI Power Tools tools exist |
The Claude Desktop extension, which is the server, is not installed or is switched off. The plugin carries only the skills | In Claude Desktop open Settings, Extensions, install AI-Power-Tools-for-Sparx-EA.mcpb if it is missing (Claude Desktop extension), and keep it enabled. ea-start-here says this when no server answers |
| Claude Code in a terminal shows no EA tools | Claude Code in a terminal does not load Claude Desktop extensions | Use Claude Desktop chat, Claude Cowork or the Code tab of the Claude desktop app, which get the server from the extension |
| Every skill appears twice | The skills load from two sources: copies from the older skills installer in %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills, or the plugin installed a second time through Claude Code's plugin commands |
Run the migration for old copies (Moving from an older installation). If the plugin is installed on the account, do not install it through Claude Code as well; remove the Claude Code install |
The ping reply carries a notice that the skills are behind |
The claude.ai marketplace does not sync on its own, so your session has older skills | Open https://claude.ai/customize/plugins, choose Manage marketplaces, sync novocircle, then quit Claude Desktop completely and reopen it (Updating and uninstalling) |
The ping reply carries a notice that the server is behind |
A newer server release exists | Follow the steps in the notice: drag the new .mcpb onto Settings, Extensions, switch the extension off, choose Update, switch it on (Updating and uninstalling) |
install_skills declines and says the plugin supersedes it |
The plugin supplies these skills. The call declined on purpose | Update the skills by syncing the marketplace as in Updating and uninstalling. Use force only if you intend a second copy |
| Claude asks for approval of tools you approved before | Permission rules saved under an older installation do not match the extension's tool names, mcp__AI-Power-Tools-for-Sparx-EA__<tool> |
Approve again, or add rules for those names (Moving from an older installation) |
| Claude Cowork session: the EA server is missing | The extension is off, or Claude Desktop is not running on the workstation, or the manifest has a required setting with no default and the desktop dropped the server | Make sure Claude Desktop and EA run on the workstation and the extension is enabled. Use the shipped manifest unmodified (Enterprise fleet deployment) |
Desktop extension upgrade fails with EPERM: operation not permitted, unlink ... ea-mcp-server.exe |
The running server holds a lock on its program | On the screen that opens when you drag the file in, switch Enabled off, choose Update, then switch it on. Otherwise quit Claude Desktop from the tray first (Updating and uninstalling) |
| Windows blocks the server: Defender flags it, or Error 225 | A modified or unsigned package. Every shipped program file is individually signed | Install the release file from the public releases page. Do not add Defender exclusions |
| SmartScreen shows "Unknown publisher" | An unsigned build. Release builds are signed and an unsigned build cannot be published | Install the release file, not a local build |
A tool returns ea_not_running |
EA is not running | Start EA and open a project, or where computer use is available let the assistant do it. Do not start a second instance |
A tool returns ea_no_model_open |
EA is running without a model | Open a project in EA, or use open_model or create_model |
COM error 0x800401E3 ("Operation unavailable") |
EA's automation interface is not responding, often because a modal dialog is open | With computer use, the assistant reads the dialog, corrects the call, dismisses the dialog and retries. Without computer use, paste a screenshot of the dialog into the conversation, then dismiss it yourself, save and retry. If it persists, restart EA |
| EA shows "(Not Responding)" | EA is busy, for example opening a model or importing a technology | Wait. Do not re-issue the command or open a second instance |
| VS Code: "requires VS Code 1.99 or newer" | VS Code is too old for built-in tool support | Update VS Code |
| VS Code: "only runs on Windows" | A non-Windows platform | Not supported. EA is Windows-only |
| VS Code: "Could not find ea-mcp-server.exe" | eaMcp.serverPath points at a missing file, or the extension is damaged |
Clear the setting, or reinstall the .vsix |
| VS Code: the update notice does not appear | The daily check ran recently, the version was skipped, or eaMcp.checkForUpdates is off |
Run EA: Check for Updates |
| The update notice gives general steps that name the extension file | The server did not recognize where its program sits, for example a copy that another client starts directly | Install the new release the same way you installed this one (Updating and uninstalling) |
get_repository_info reports older skill copies |
The older skills installer left copies in %USERPROFILE%\.claude\skills. If the plugin is installed on your account they load a second time beside the plugin's. The server cannot read the account's plugins, so the report is conditional |
Run migrate-to-plugin.ps1, with -WhatIf first (Moving from an older installation). Do not use install_skills |
For anything not in the table, ask Claude to run ea-diagnostic, or switch on diagnostics (The AI Power Tools MCP Server for Sparx EA) and send the report to help@novocircle.com. See also Troubleshooting.
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