diff --git a/headroom/cli/mcp.py b/headroom/cli/mcp.py
index a9ea4228e..7563822bb 100644
--- a/headroom/cli/mcp.py
+++ b/headroom/cli/mcp.py
@@ -16,6 +16,9 @@ from .main import main
 # Default paths
 CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR = Path.home() / ".claude"
 MCP_CONFIG_PATH = CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR / "mcp.json"
+# Servers registered via `claude mcp add` (user scope) live in ~/.claude.json,
+# NOT in ~/.claude/mcp.json. Status must check both to avoid a false negative.
+CLAUDE_JSON_PATH = Path.home() / ".claude.json"
 DEFAULT_PROXY_URL = "http://127.0.0.1:8787"
 DEFAULT_HTTP_HOST = "127.0.0.1"
 DEFAULT_HTTP_PORT = 8788
@@ -50,6 +53,30 @@ def save_mcp_config(config: dict) -> None:
         f.write("\n")  # Trailing newline
 
 
+def find_headroom_registration() -> tuple[Path, dict[str, Any]] | None:
+    """Locate an existing 'headroom' MCP server registration.
+
+    Claude Code stores servers registered with `claude mcp add` (user scope) in
+    ~/.claude.json under "mcpServers". Headroom's own `mcp install` fallback
+    writes ~/.claude/mcp.json, and a project may define ./.mcp.json. Check all of
+    them so `status` reflects reality instead of only looking at mcp.json.
+
+    Returns (config_path, server_config) for the first match, else None.
+    """
+    for path in (CLAUDE_JSON_PATH, MCP_CONFIG_PATH, Path.cwd() / ".mcp.json"):
+        if not path.exists():
+            continue
+        try:
+            with open(path) as f:
+                data = json.load(f)
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, OSError):
+            continue
+        servers = data.get("mcpServers", {})
+        if isinstance(servers, dict) and "headroom" in servers:
+            return path, servers["headroom"]
+    return None
+
+
 @main.group()
 def mcp() -> None:
     """MCP server for Claude Code integration.
diff --git a/tests/test_cli/test_mcp_status.py b/tests/test_cli/test_mcp_status.py
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..7f50d8f51
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/test_cli/test_mcp_status.py
@@ -0,0 +1,89 @@
+from __future__ import annotations
+
+import json
+from pathlib import Path
+
+import pytest
+
+from headroom.cli import mcp as mcp_cli
+
+
+def _write_servers(path: Path, servers: dict) -> None:
+    path.parent.mkdir(parents=True, exist_ok=True)
+    path.write_text(json.dumps({"mcpServers": servers}), encoding="utf-8")
+
+
+def test_find_registration_in_claude_json(tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch) -> None:
+    claude_json = tmp_path / ".claude.json"
+    _write_servers(
+        claude_json,
+        {
+            "headroom": {
+                "command": "headroom",
+                "args": ["mcp", "serve"],
+                "env": {"HEADROOM_PROXY_URL": "http://x:1"},
+            }
+        },
+    )
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "CLAUDE_JSON_PATH", claude_json)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "MCP_CONFIG_PATH", tmp_path / ".claude" / "mcp.json")
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+
+    found = mcp_cli.find_headroom_registration()
+    assert found is not None
+    path, cfg = found
+    assert path == claude_json
+    assert cfg["env"]["HEADROOM_PROXY_URL"] == "http://x:1"
+
+
+def test_find_registration_falls_back_to_mcp_json(
+    tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    mcp_json = tmp_path / "mcp.json"
+    _write_servers(mcp_json, {"headroom": {"command": "headroom"}})
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "CLAUDE_JSON_PATH", tmp_path / ".claude.json")  # absent
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "MCP_CONFIG_PATH", mcp_json)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+
+    found = mcp_cli.find_headroom_registration()
+    assert found is not None and found[0] == mcp_json
+
+
+def test_find_registration_prefers_claude_json(
+    tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    claude_json = tmp_path / ".claude.json"
+    mcp_json = tmp_path / "mcp.json"
+    _write_servers(claude_json, {"headroom": {"command": "a"}})
+    _write_servers(mcp_json, {"headroom": {"command": "b"}})
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "CLAUDE_JSON_PATH", claude_json)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "MCP_CONFIG_PATH", mcp_json)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+
+    found = mcp_cli.find_headroom_registration()
+    assert found is not None and found[0] == claude_json  # ~/.claude.json takes precedence
+
+
+def test_find_registration_none_when_absent(
+    tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "CLAUDE_JSON_PATH", tmp_path / ".claude.json")
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "MCP_CONFIG_PATH", tmp_path / "mcp.json")
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+
+    assert mcp_cli.find_headroom_registration() is None
+
+
+def test_find_registration_skips_malformed_json(
+    tmp_path: Path, monkeypatch: pytest.MonkeyPatch
+) -> None:
+    claude_json = tmp_path / ".claude.json"
+    claude_json.write_text("{ not valid json", encoding="utf-8")
+    mcp_json = tmp_path / "mcp.json"
+    _write_servers(mcp_json, {"headroom": {"command": "ok"}})
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "CLAUDE_JSON_PATH", claude_json)
+    monkeypatch.setattr(mcp_cli, "MCP_CONFIG_PATH", mcp_json)
+    monkeypatch.chdir(tmp_path)
+
+    found = mcp_cli.find_headroom_registration()
+    assert found is not None and found[0] == mcp_json  # malformed file skipped, next match used