diff --git a/client/src/lib/api.ts b/client/src/lib/api.ts
index a646eccc..ad5456b2 100644
--- a/client/src/lib/api.ts
+++ b/client/src/lib/api.ts
@@ -2651,6 +2651,11 @@ export interface CcMcpServer {
   name: string;
   /** Which config file this entry came from (e.g. a `.mcp.json` path). */
   source: string;
+  /**
+   * False when no `claude mcp` scope can address this entry, so the dashboard
+   * cannot remove it. Absent means removable — only the reader sets it.
+   */
+  removable?: boolean;
   /** Transport: local subprocess ("stdio"), remote HTTP, or undetermined. */
   kind: "stdio" | "http" | "unknown";
   /** Launch command, for `kind === "stdio"`. */
diff --git a/client/src/pages/CcConfig.tsx b/client/src/pages/CcConfig.tsx
index f81f3067..35c53411 100644
--- a/client/src/pages/CcConfig.tsx
+++ b/client/src/pages/CcConfig.tsx
@@ -2022,10 +2022,11 @@ function McpCard({
 }) {
   const [confirmRemove, setConfirmRemove] = useState(false);
   const busyId = `${scope}:${server.name}`;
-  // Entries from ~/.claude/settings.json have no CLI scope that addresses
-  // them (`claude mcp remove` only ever touches ~/.claude.json / .mcp.json)
-  // — a Remove button here would look live and never work.
-  const removable = server.source !== "~/.claude/settings.json";
+  // The reader decides this: entries from ~/.claude/settings.json have no CLI
+  // scope that addresses them, so a Remove button would look live and never
+  // work. Reading it off a flag rather than matching `source` keeps a reworded
+  // display string from silently bringing that button back.
+  const removable = server.removable !== false;
   return (
     <div className="rounded-lg border border-border bg-surface-2 px-4 py-3">
       <div className="flex items-center gap-2 flex-wrap">
diff --git a/server/__tests__/cc-plugin-cli.test.js b/server/__tests__/cc-plugin-cli.test.js
index d72d83a1..dd6946d8 100644
--- a/server/__tests__/cc-plugin-cli.test.js
+++ b/server/__tests__/cc-plugin-cli.test.js
@@ -224,6 +224,29 @@ describe("cc-plugin-cli CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR pinning", () => {
       else process.env.CLAUDE_HOME = originalHome;
     }
   });
+
+  // The two env tests above pin one half each. This pins the pair: the file
+  // the dashboard READS must be the file the CLI WRITES, under both settings.
+  // `.claude.json` was the only read path in cc-discovery not derived from
+  // getClaudeHome(), which is exactly how the two halves drifted apart.
+  it("reads the same .claude.json the CLI writes, with CLAUDE_HOME set or unset", () => {
+    const cc = require("../lib/cc-discovery");
+    const originalHome = process.env.CLAUDE_HOME;
+
+    // CLI's write target = <CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR>/.claude.json, and
+    // CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR is either CLAUDE_HOME or the CLI's own default,
+    // which is the same directory getClaudeHome() returns.
+    try {
+      delete process.env.CLAUDE_HOME;
+      assert.equal(cc.getClaudeJsonPath(), path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude", ".claude.json"));
+
+      process.env.CLAUDE_HOME = "/tmp/some-other-claude-home";
+      assert.equal(cc.getClaudeJsonPath(), "/tmp/some-other-claude-home/.claude.json");
+    } finally {
+      if (originalHome === undefined) delete process.env.CLAUDE_HOME;
+      else process.env.CLAUDE_HOME = originalHome;
+    }
+  });
 });
 
 describe("cc-plugin-cli run outcomes", () => {
diff --git a/server/lib/cc-discovery.js b/server/lib/cc-discovery.js
index 053f489c..02b1cd41 100644
--- a/server/lib/cc-discovery.js
+++ b/server/lib/cc-discovery.js
@@ -29,16 +29,13 @@ function getProjectClaudeDir(cwd) {
 }
 
 function getClaudeJsonPath() {
-  // ~/.claude.json sits beside ~/.claude/, NOT inside it. Resolve from $HOME
-  // so a CLAUDE_HOME override doesn't accidentally relocate it.
-  //
-  // Paired with cc-plugin-cli.js's runClaude(): with CLAUDE_HOME unset (the
-  // default), it deliberately leaves CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR unset too, so the CLI
-  // writes here (its own default). With CLAUDE_HOME set, this read stays
-  // pinned to $HOME/.claude.json while the CLI writes
-  // <CLAUDE_HOME>/.claude.json — a known, unfixed split for that case; see
-  // runClaude's comment.
-  return path.join(os.homedir(), ".claude.json");
+  // One root for everything: this file used to resolve from $HOME while the
+  // other 19 read paths derived from getClaudeHome(), and cc-plugin-cli.js's
+  // runClaude() pinned CLAUDE_CONFIG_DIR to getClaudeHome() — which is where
+  // the CLI puts .claude.json. The dashboard read one file and made the CLI
+  // write another, so MCP add/remove was inert. Keep this and runClaude's
+  // env in step; they are the same decision seen from two sides.
+  return path.join(getClaudeHome(), ".claude.json");
 }
 
 /**
@@ -516,6 +513,11 @@ function readMcpServers(opts = {}) {
       out.user.push({
         name,
         source: "~/.claude/settings.json",
+        // No `claude mcp` scope addresses settings.json, so the dashboard
+        // cannot remove these. A flag, not a string comparison on `source`:
+        // the UI used to match that display text, so rewording it silently
+        // brought back a Remove button that always fails.
+        removable: false,
         ...summarizeMcpDef(def),
       });
     }
@@ -911,6 +913,9 @@ function readOverview(opts = {}) {
 }
 
 module.exports = {
+  // Exported so a test can pin it against the file the CLI writes — the two
+  // drifted apart once and the mismatch was invisible from either side alone.
+  getClaudeJsonPath,
   // surface readers
   readSkills,
   readAgents,