diff --git a/src/TALXIS.CLI.MCP/McpPathNormalizer.cs b/src/TALXIS.CLI.MCP/McpPathNormalizer.cs
index 4583549..a557f2e 100644
--- a/src/TALXIS.CLI.MCP/McpPathNormalizer.cs
+++ b/src/TALXIS.CLI.MCP/McpPathNormalizer.cs
@@ -15,6 +15,11 @@ internal static string ExpandHomeRelativePath(string path, bool allowFileUriLoca
         if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(path))
             return path;
 
+        // Normalize Windows file URI local drive paths like "/c:/project" early.
+        var normalizedPath = TryNormalizeWindowsFileUriDrivePath(path);
+        if (normalizedPath != null)
+            return normalizedPath;
+
         var suffixStart = GetHomeRelativeSuffixStart(path, allowFileUriLocalPathHome);
         if (suffixStart < 0)
             return path;
@@ -31,6 +36,19 @@ internal static string ExpandHomeRelativePath(string path, bool allowFileUriLoca
         return segments.Length == 0 ? home : Path.Combine([home, .. segments]);
     }
 
+    // Drops the leading slash from file URI local paths like /c:/project.
+    // This is a mechanical Uri.LocalPath normalization, not a semantic rewrite.
+    private static string? TryNormalizeWindowsFileUriDrivePath(string path)
+    {
+        if (OperatingSystem.IsWindows() && path.Length >= 3
+            && path[0] == '/' && char.IsLetter(path[1]) && path[2] == ':')
+        {
+            return path[1..];
+        }
+
+        return null;
+    }
+
     private static int GetHomeRelativeSuffixStart(string path, bool allowFileUriLocalPathHome)
     {
         if (path == "~")
diff --git a/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/McpPathNormalizerTests.cs b/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/McpPathNormalizerTests.cs
index 86cfc8f..1cb7c2c 100644
--- a/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/McpPathNormalizerTests.cs
+++ b/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/McpPathNormalizerTests.cs
@@ -23,6 +23,38 @@ public void NormalizeOperationalPath_HomeRelativeInput_ResolvesAgainstUserProfil
         Assert.Equal(expected, result);
     }
 
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("C:/~")]
+    [InlineData("C:\\~")]
+    [InlineData("C:/~/Sources/project")]
+    [InlineData("C:\\~\\Sources\\project")]
+    [InlineData("c:/~")]
+    [InlineData("c:/~/Sources/project")]
+    [InlineData("c:\\~\\Sources\\project")]
+    public void NormalizeOperationalPath_DriveQualifiedTilde_RemainsFilesystemPath(string input)
+    {
+        var result = McpPathNormalizer.NormalizeOperationalPath(input);
+
+        Assert.Equal(Path.GetFullPath(input), result);
+    }
+
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("C:/~folder", false)]
+    [InlineData("C:\\~folder", false)]
+    [InlineData("c:/~folder", false)]
+    [InlineData("c:\\~folder", false)]
+    [InlineData("/C:/~folder", true)]
+    [InlineData("/c:/~folder", true)]
+    public void NormalizeOperationalPath_NonDelimitedDriveQualifiedTilde_RemainsFilesystemPath(string input, bool isFileUriLocalDrivePath)
+    {
+        var result = McpPathNormalizer.NormalizeOperationalPath(input);
+        var expected = OperatingSystem.IsWindows() && isFileUriLocalDrivePath
+            ? Path.GetFullPath(input[1..])
+            : Path.GetFullPath(input);
+
+        Assert.Equal(expected, result);
+    }
+
     [Theory]
     [InlineData("/~/Sources/project")]
     [InlineData("\\~\\Sources\\project")]
@@ -38,6 +70,30 @@ public void NormalizeOperationalPath_FileUriLocalHomePath_ResolvesAgainstUserPro
         Assert.Equal(expected, result);
     }
 
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("/C:/Users/project")]
+    [InlineData("/c:/Users/project")]
+    public void NormalizeOperationalPath_FileUriDrivePath_NormalizesLeadingSlash(string input)
+    {
+        var result = McpPathNormalizer.NormalizeOperationalPath(input);
+        var expected = OperatingSystem.IsWindows()
+            ? Path.GetFullPath(input[1..])
+            : Path.GetFullPath(input);
+        Assert.Equal(expected, result);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    [System.Runtime.Versioning.SupportedOSPlatform("windows")]
+    public void NormalizeOperationalPath_VsCodeLowercaseDriveUri_IsValidOnWindows()
+    {
+        if (!OperatingSystem.IsWindows()) return;
+        var localPath = "/c:/Users/example-user/Sources/project";
+        var result = McpPathNormalizer.NormalizeOperationalPath(localPath, allowFileUriLocalPathHome: true);
+        Assert.True(Path.IsPathRooted(result));
+        Assert.DoesNotContain("c:\\c:", result, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+        Assert.Equal(Path.GetFullPath("c:/Users/example-user/Sources/project"), result);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void NormalizeOperationalPath_AbsoluteUnixPath_RemainsAbsolute()
     {
diff --git a/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/RootsServiceTests.cs b/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/RootsServiceTests.cs
index f58d912..09558e1 100644
--- a/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/RootsServiceTests.cs
+++ b/tests/TALXIS.CLI.Tests/MCP/RootsServiceTests.cs
@@ -32,7 +32,25 @@ public void ConvertFileUri_WindowsLowercaseDrive_ReturnsNormalisedPath()
         // VS Code on Windows sends lowercase drive letters
         var result = RootsService.ConvertFileUriToPath("file:///c:/Users/project");
         Assert.NotNull(result);
-        Assert.EndsWith("c:/Users/project", result.Replace('\\', '/'));
+        Assert.True(Path.IsPathFullyQualified(result), $"Expected fully-qualified path but got: {result}");
+
+        var normalised = result.Replace('\\', '/');
+        Assert.DoesNotContain("c:/c:/", normalised, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+        Assert.Contains("Users/project", normalised, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+    }
+
+    [Fact]
+    [System.Runtime.Versioning.SupportedOSPlatform("windows")]
+    public void ConvertFileUri_LowercaseDriveWorkspaceRoot_DoesNotDuplicateDrive()
+    {
+        if (!OperatingSystem.IsWindows()) return;
+
+        var result = RootsService.ConvertFileUriToPath("file:///c:/Users/example-user/Sources/my-agent-team");
+        Assert.NotNull(result);
+        Assert.True(Path.IsPathFullyQualified(result));
+        Assert.DoesNotContain(@"c:\c:", result, StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
+        Assert.EndsWith(Path.Combine("Users", "example-user", "Sources", "my-agent-team"), result,
+            StringComparison.OrdinalIgnoreCase);
     }
 
     [Fact]
@@ -79,6 +97,18 @@ public void ConvertFileUri_HomeRelativePath_ResolvesAgainstUserProfile()
         Assert.Equal(expected, result);
     }
 
+    [Theory]
+    [InlineData("file:///C:/~/Sources/project", "C:/~/Sources/project", "/C:/~/Sources/project")]
+    [InlineData("file:///c:/~/Sources/project", "c:/~/Sources/project", "/c:/~/Sources/project")]
+    public void ConvertFileUri_DriveQualifiedHome_RemainsFilesystemPath(string uri, string windowsPath, string nonWindowsPath)
+    {
+        var result = RootsService.ConvertFileUriToPath(uri);
+
+        Assert.NotNull(result);
+        var expectedInput = OperatingSystem.IsWindows() ? windowsPath : nonWindowsPath;
+        Assert.Equal(Path.GetFullPath(expectedInput), result);
+    }
+
     [Fact]
     public void ConvertFileUri_ResultIsFullPath()
     {