From 53faaca5aba867a43118706eba0d1bfe69975217 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Fork Less <forkless@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, 25 Jun 2026 01:47:10 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix: skip local canvas server start when EXPRESS_SERVER_URL
 is set

---
 src/index.ts | 17 +++++++++++------
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+), 6 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/index.ts b/src/index.ts
index e0ac2a2..fcec8c8 100644
--- a/src/index.ts
+++ b/src/index.ts
@@ -2912,12 +2912,17 @@ async function runServer(): Promise<void> {
 
     applyTenant(workspacePath);
 
-    try {
-      await startCanvasServer();
-      logger.info('Canvas server started — lifecycle managed by MCP process');
-    } catch (canvasError) {
-      logger.warn('Canvas server failed to start:', (canvasError as Error).message);
-      logger.warn('MCP tools will work without real-time canvas sync');
+    // Skip local canvas server when targeting a remote EXPRESS_SERVER_URL
+    if (!process.env.EXPRESS_SERVER_URL) {
+      try {
+        await startCanvasServer();
+        logger.info('Canvas server started — lifecycle managed by MCP process');
+      } catch (canvasError) {
+        logger.warn('Canvas server failed to start:', (canvasError as Error).message);
+        logger.warn('MCP tools will work without real-time canvas sync');
+      }
+    } else {
+      logger.info('Remote canvas server configured, skipping local canvas start');
     }
 
     // HTTP mode: one shared process serves many clients over Streamable HTTP.