feat(desktop): skip built-in MCP servers when OPENWORK_DISABLE_BUILTIN_MCP=1

[yashranaway]

Closes #1806

Summary

• Add a single env-var gate OPENWORK_DISABLE_BUILTIN_MCP read via the existing envFlagEnabled helper so corporate installs that prohibit local hosting can opt out without changing source.
• Short-circuit ensureBrowserMcpServers() before it binds the built-in browser MCP and external Chrome MCP ports. seedBrowserMcpConfig() already early-returns on a null result, so workspace-create writes no openwork-browser / chrome entries either.
• Skip startUiControlServer() at the boot site so the UI-control bridge is not spawned and the matching openwork-ui-control.json discovery file is never written.
• Log a clear line at each skipped spawn ([browser-mcp] Skipped (OPENWORK_DISABLE_BUILTIN_MCP=1) / [ui-control] Skipped ...) so the reporter can verify in logs as the issue suggests.

Verification

• node --check apps/desktop/electron/main.mjs passes.
• grep envFlagEnabled apps/desktop/electron/main.mjs confirms the new flag uses the same truthy-string parser (1 / true / yes / on) as OPENWORK_FORCE_SIGNIN.
• Reproduction steps from the issue: launch with OPENWORK_DISABLE_BUILTIN_MCP=1 openwork, check Electron logs for both Skipped lines and confirm netstat -an | grep LISTEN | grep 6488 no longer shows the built-in browser MCP ports.

Notes

• Out of scope: hiding the renderer-side "browser" button when the flag is set. That lives in the React tree (apps/app/src/react-app/) and is a separate surface; this PR is the main-process gate the reporter asked for. Happy to follow up with the button visibility tied to a runtime flag exposed via the desktop bridge if maintainers want.

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Project	Deployment	Actions	Updated (UTC)
openwork-landing	Ready	Preview, Comment, Open in v0	May 22, 2026 4:08pm

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