diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index bc28d5dc4e5..bdd4918509c 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -1,3 +1,4 @@
+- Fixed MCP server writing `firebase-debug.log` to the user's project directory; logs now go to `~/.firebase/firebase-debug.log` instead. (#9982)
 - Added `*_EMULATOR_VERSION` env variables to allow overriding specific versions of downloadable emulators
 - Updated the functions.config deprecation notice from March 2026 to March 2027 (#9941)
 - Detects when App Hosting fails to deploy, returning an error. (#8866)
diff --git a/src/bin/mcp.ts b/src/bin/mcp.ts
index ff48e8cea31..ca10a698986 100644
--- a/src/bin/mcp.ts
+++ b/src/bin/mcp.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-import { resolve } from "path";
+import { resolve, join } from "path";
+import { mkdir } from "fs/promises";
+import { homedir } from "os";
 import { parseArgs } from "util";
 import { useFileLogger } from "../logger";
 import { FirebaseMcpServer } from "../mcp/index";
@@ -84,7 +86,11 @@ export async function mcp(): Promise<void> {
   if (earlyExit) return;
 
   setFirebaseMcp(true);
-  useFileLogger();
+  // Write debug logs to ~/.firebase/ to avoid polluting the user's project directory.
+  // See: https://github.com/firebase/firebase-tools/issues/9982
+  const mcpLogDir = join(homedir(), ".firebase");
+  await mkdir(mcpLogDir, { recursive: true });
+  useFileLogger(join(mcpLogDir, "firebase-debug.log"));
   const activeFeatures = (values.only || "")
     .split(",")
     .map((f) => f.trim())