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fix(auth): address Copilot review on the secret-store PR

Browse source 
Six findings, all taken.

- The descriptor reported the *write policy*, not the file. Adding
  `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_KEY` to an install that already has a plaintext
  file flipped `store.encrypted` immediately, so the banner and footer
  claimed "File (encrypted)" while the existing secrets sat readable
  until the next `set`. `FileSecretStore.readOnDiskEncryption()` now
  reads the envelope (never the payload, so it needs no passphrase) and
  the descriptor is built from that. The transitional state gets its own
  `pendingEncryption` flag, which changes the advice without softening
  the verdict — "set a passphrase" is the wrong thing to tell someone who
  already has, so the caveat names the pending write instead.

- The secrets file ignored the configured storage directory. A container
  mounting only that directory was judged unmounted, fell back to
  `memory`, and lost secrets the user had arranged to keep.
  `defaultSecretFilePath()` now follows `MCP_STORAGE_DIR` — the variable
  that already relocates OAuth tokens and `client.json` — between the
  explicit `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_FILE` and the `~/.mcp-inspector`
  default. (The issue comment called it `MCP_INSPECTOR_STORAGE_DIR`; no
  such variable exists.)

- `version` was never checked before the plaintext branch, so a
  `{ version: 2, encryption: "none" }` file was read and silently
  rewritten as version 1, discarding whatever the newer format added —
  the same destroy-to-satisfy-an-additive-request case the encrypted
  branch already refuses. Checked first now, so the answer no longer
  depends on which encryption mode the newer writer chose.

- The doc comment claimed a per-file salt made "a short, memorable value
  safe to use". It does not: the salt defeats precomputation, not
  guessing, and the scrypt cost is deliberately a few milliseconds
  because it runs on every read and write. Both the comment and the
  README now say to use a high-entropy value, generated rather than
  chosen.

- `usableSecretStorage` validated only `kind`, so a partial
  `{ kind: "file" }` was cast through and — because a missing `plaintext`
  is falsy — rendered as the quiet, neutral *encrypted* file. That is the
  confident half-answer the guard exists to reject, produced by the
  absence of information rather than by any claim the backend made.
  `reason`, `durable`, and each kind's own required fields are checked.

- The footer's inline `Tooltip` carried four static props; extracted to a
  `CaveatTooltip` constant per the `.withProps()` rule.

Tests cover each: the policy/file disagreement in both directions and the
no-file-yet fallback, `MCP_STORAGE_DIR` and its precedence against
`MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_FILE`, the version refusal (asserting the bytes
survive it) split from the unrecognized-cipher refusal it used to be
conflated with, `readOnDiskEncryption` including the keyless and
unparseable cases, five new rejected descriptor shapes, and the changed
caveat. Full `npm run ci` green.

Signed-off-by: cliffhall <cliff@futurescale.com>
This commit is contained in:
cliffhall 2026-08-22 12:26:33 -04:00
commit 3452a63101
1 changed files with 411 additions and 75 deletions
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96
README.md
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@ -139,22 +139,22 @@ This is what lets an Inspector connection negotiating `protocolEra: "auto" | "mo
Each config below is a ready-made server for exercising one feature by hand. Load one with `--config`, and unless noted, connect with **Protocol Era = Modern**.
| Config | Demonstrates | Issue |
| ----------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Config | Demonstrates | Issue |
| ----------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `mcp-app-http.json` **(legacy era)** | An MCP App (UI resource + app tool) in the Apps tab | [#1859](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1859) |
| `modern-mrtr-http.json` | A single MRTR round-trip | — |
| `mrtr-showcase-http.json` | Every MRTR preset in one server | [#1860](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1860) |
| `modern-network-http.json` | Network tab: `Mcp-*` headers + error taxonomy | [#1628](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1628) |
| `xmcpheader-modern-http.json` | Tools tab: `x-mcp-header` mirroring and exclusions | [#1632](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1632) |
| `pagination-http.json` | Page-by-page list fetching | [#1721](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1721) |
| `structured-output-http.json` | Tools tab: a result's `structuredContent` section | [#1908](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1908) |
| `duplicate-tool-names-http.json` | A `tools/list` that repeats a tool name | [#1957](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1957) |
| `nullable-fields-http.json` | Tools tab: nullable (`anyOf` + `null`) arguments | [#1928](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1928) |
| `modern-mrtr-http.json` | A single MRTR round-trip | — |
| `mrtr-showcase-http.json` | Every MRTR preset in one server | [#1860](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1860) |
| `modern-network-http.json` | Network tab: `Mcp-*` headers + error taxonomy | [#1628](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1628) |
| `xmcpheader-modern-http.json` | Tools tab: `x-mcp-header` mirroring and exclusions | [#1632](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1632) |
| `pagination-http.json` | Page-by-page list fetching | [#1721](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1721) |
| `structured-output-http.json` | Tools tab: a result's `structuredContent` section | [#1908](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1908) |
| `duplicate-tool-names-http.json` | A `tools/list` that repeats a tool name | [#1957](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1957) |
| `nullable-fields-http.json` | Tools tab: nullable (`anyOf` + `null`) arguments | [#1928](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1928) |
| `rfc6570-templates-http.json` | Resources tab: RFC 6570 resource-template expansion | [#1919](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1919) |
| `advertised-extensions-http.json` | Tool registration gated on advertised extensions | [#1739](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1739) |
| `logging-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Logging, both eras | [#1629](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1629) |
| `subscriptions-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Resource subscriptions, both eras | [#1630](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1630) |
| `tasks-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Tasks, both eras | [#1631](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1631) |
| `advertised-extensions-http.json` | Tool registration gated on advertised extensions | [#1739](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1739) |
| `logging-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Logging, both eras | [#1629](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1629) |
| `subscriptions-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Resource subscriptions, both eras | [#1630](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1630) |
| `tasks-{legacy,modern}-http.json` | Tasks, both eras | [#1631](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1631) |
#### MCP Apps
@ -266,23 +266,23 @@ Open the Resources tab and pick **events_by_topic**, then enter `foo/bar`. The r
The web client and the TUI expand through one shared helper, [`core/mcp/uriTemplate.ts`](./core/mcp/uriTemplate.ts) — the web Resources form directly, the TUI via `InspectorClient.readResourceFromTemplate` — and both derive their **form fields** from its parser too, which is the half that makes the sharing real: a form submits values under the names it rendered, so a parser that mangles a name silently drops the value at expansion time. (The CLI is not a consumer: it has no template form, and its `resources/read` passes the already-expanded `--uri` straight through.)
The SDK's `UriTemplate` is still used, but only to *validate* a template (constructing it is what rejects an unclosed expression). Its expander is not, because it is incomplete in five ways — each measured against the pinned SDK, not inferred:
The SDK's `UriTemplate` is still used, but only to _validate_ a template (constructing it is what rejects an unclosed expression). Its expander is not, because it is incomplete in five ways — each measured against the pinned SDK, not inferred:
| Shape | SDK behavior |
| --- | --- |
| `{a,b}` | raw-joins the values — no encoding, operator prefix dropped |
| `{;id}` | `;` is missing from its operator list, so the variable parses as `;id` |
| `{id:3}` | the prefix modifier is folded into the name, giving `id:3` |
| Shape | SDK behavior |
| --------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `{a,b}` | raw-joins the values — no encoding, operator prefix dropped |
| `{;id}` | `;` is missing from its operator list, so the variable parses as `;id` |
| `{id:3}` | the prefix modifier is folded into the name, giving `id:3` |
| `{+v}` / `{#v}` | `encodeURI` mangles reserved `[`/`]` (`[::1]` → `%5B::1%5D`) and double-encodes pct-triplets (`%2F` → `%252F`) |
| `{v}` | `encodeURIComponent` leaves the sub-delims `!'()*` bare, which RFC 6570 requires encoded |
| `{v}` | `encodeURIComponent` leaves the sub-delims `!'()*` bare, which RFC 6570 requires encoded |
The `;` and `:3` rows are the ones a user sees directly: on the SDK's parse the form renders fields literally labelled `;id` and `id:3`. The `+`/`#` row is silent corruption rather than over-escaping — an IPv6 literal or an already-encoded path arrives at the server altered.
A template that cannot be expanded at all — an out-of-grammar modifier (`{id:abc}`), or an expression declaring no variable (`{}`, `{a,}`, `{?}`) — **withholds the read** rather than sending something. Pick **events_malformed** (`foobar://events/{topic:abc}`) to see it: Read Resource is disabled, the reason is printed under the form, and the preview shows the template as the server declared it. The alternative is worse than it looks: `x://{}` would otherwise expand to `x://` with no inputs rendered, so the form's "everything required is filled" check passes vacuously and it reads a URI that is not the template the server published.
Literals are pct-encoded on expansion too (RFC 6570 §3.1): `café/{var}` sends `caf%C3%A9/value`, not raw UTF-8 in the path — something the SDK's expander does not do either. And the *names* a template may use are RFC 6570's `varchar` plus a labelled tolerance for `-` and `~`: the conformance suite rejects `{default-graph-uri}`, but real servers publish such names and the SDK's matcher round-trips them, so the Inspector expands them and marks the variable `conforming: false` rather than refusing a resource that demonstrably works.
Literals are pct-encoded on expansion too (RFC 6570 §3.1): `café/{var}` sends `caf%C3%A9/value`, not raw UTF-8 in the path — something the SDK's expander does not do either. And the _names_ a template may use are RFC 6570's `varchar` plus a labelled tolerance for `-` and `~`: the conformance suite rejects `{default-graph-uri}`, but real servers publish such names and the SDK's matcher round-trips them, so the Inspector expands them and marks the variable `conforming: false` rather than refusing a resource that demonstrably works.
An **undefined** variable is what omits its expression — a variable defined as the empty string expands (`x{?q}` gives `x?q=`, `x{;q}` gives `x;q`, per RFC 6570 §3.2.7). The expander honors that distinction, so a caller such as `readResourceFromTemplate` can request either URI. Collapsing the two is a *form* concern, not a template one: both clients seed every declared variable with `""` and a text input cannot express "defined but empty", so each form drops its blanks (`definedValues`) on the way in.
An **undefined** variable is what omits its expression — a variable defined as the empty string expands (`x{?q}` gives `x?q=`, `x{;q}` gives `x;q`, per RFC 6570 §3.2.7). The expander honors that distinction, so a caller such as `readResourceFromTemplate` can request either URI. Collapsing the two is a _form_ concern, not a template one: both clients seed every declared variable with `""` and a text input cannot express "defined but empty", so each form drops its blanks (`definedValues`) on the way in.
Requiredness is a property of the **expression**, not the variable: RFC 6570 drops undefined names from a multi-name expression, so `{a,b}` with only `a` filled is expandable and a form must not block it. `requiredGroups` returns one entry per non-omittable expression and `hasRequiredValues` asks that each be satisfied by any one of its names — which no per-variable flag can express once a name recurs across expressions (`{a,b}{a,c}` is satisfied by filling `b` and `c`).
@ -341,18 +341,18 @@ Individual clients: `build:web`, `build:cli`, `build:tui`, `build:launcher`. The
Each client self-validates from its own folder; the root scripts chain them. There is **no** aggregate root `test` script — use `validate` (fast) or `coverage` (the gate).
| Script | What it does |
| ----------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `npm run validate` | Runs the three durable guards first — `verify:format-coverage` (every tracked source file is format-gated), `verify:typecheck-coverage` (every one lands in a tsconfig project), `verify:dep-lockstep` (no dependency reaching one `tsc` program from two installs skews across them) — then `test:scripts` (the guards' own parser unit tests), then `validate:core` (the shared `core/` `format:check` + `lint` gate), then per client: `format:check` + `lint` + **`typecheck`** (cli/tui/launcher; web typechecks via `tsc -b` inside its `build`) + `build` + fast unit tests. The quick inner-loop check. |
| `npm run coverage` | The **per-file ≥90% gate** (lines/statements/functions/branches) under v8 instrumentation, per client. CI-enforced. For web this also runs the integration project and covers the shared `core/` runtime (including `core/json` and `core/client`). |
| `npm run smoke` | End-to-end smokes through the built launcher (`--help` dispatch + prod cli/tui/web), plus two headless-Chromium smokes: a boot smoke that runs the prod web bundle and asserts a clean first render (no uncaught error — sync exception or unhandled rejection, how a Node built-in reaching the browser bundle manifests), and an **MCP Apps** smoke (`smoke:web:app`) that drives connect → open app → `data-app-status="ready"` against a composable App server, covering the sandbox proxy and UI-protocol bridge. |
| `npm run verify:build-gate` | Runs a real `vite build` with a Node built-in forced into the browser graph and asserts the build **fails** via the #1769 gate (which turns Vite's browser-externalization warning into a hard error). Guards against the warning phrasing drifting in a Vite bump and silently disabling the gate. Part of `npm run ci`. |
| `npm run verify:format-coverage` | Parses the `format:check` globs out of every `package.json` (only those reachable from `validate`), enumerates all tracked source files, and **fails** listing any not covered by a glob — the durable guard for the "every first-party source file is format-gated" invariant (#1792). Runs first in `validate`. |
| `npm run test:scripts` | Table-driven unit tests (`node --test`) for the guard's own pure parsers (`scripts/lib/npm-scripts.mjs`, `scripts/lib/tsc-program.mjs` + the exported helpers of `verify-typecheck-coverage.mjs` and `verify-dep-lockstep.mjs`), one case per rule they encode, plus `scripts/lib/resolve-node-bin.test.mjs` — the cross-platform bin resolver (#1939), pinned against the real `bin`/`exports` shapes of the packages the scripts actually spawn. Runs in `validate` — and `verify:typecheck-coverage` guards *this* gate in turn (reachable from `validate`, non-empty test set, every test file matched by the `test:scripts` glob), since `node --test` silently skips a file its glob misses and still exits 0. |
| `npm run verify:typecheck-coverage` | The typecheck-coverage analog of the above (#1791): for each Node client (auto-discovered from disk — enrolled via its `typecheck` script's projects, or for a `tsc -b` client like `clients/web` via its `tsconfig.json` `references`) it runs those projects with `tsc --listFilesOnly`, unions them, and **fails** listing any tracked `.ts`/`.tsx`/`.mts`/`.cts` under the client that lands in no project (so a new top-level config/helper can't silently go untypechecked). It also requires, deny-by-default, the first-party TS no client owns (`test-servers/src`, the root `vitest.shared.mts`, all of `core/`, and any new top-level location) to land in some client project's tsc pass — so a `core` `*.tsx` web's projects don't reach is caught too. Also asserts the gate is wired (each client's typecheck pass — its `typecheck` script, or web's `tsc -b` — is reachable from its `validate`, and the root chain runs each client's `validate`). Runs in `validate`. |
| `npm run verify:dep-lockstep` | Guards the "one version per install-crossing dependency" invariant (#1896). v2 is not a workspace, so a client's test project compiles the shared first-party TypeScript — `core/`, `test-servers/src`, and the root-owned `vitest.shared.mts`, all of which resolve their dependencies from the **root** install — alongside the client's own sources, putting the same package in one `tsc` program twice. At the same version that's harmless; skewed, TypeScript must relate two structurally-distinct copies of every type, which for a recursive-generic surface is exponential (zod `4.3.6` vs `4.4.3` exhausted the 4GB tsc heap in `clients/web`). Derives its candidate set from **what actually enters each program** (#1965) — every client tsconfig project listed with `tsc --listFilesOnly` via the shared `scripts/lib/tsc-program.mjs`, each resolved `node_modules` file mapped to its owning install, keeping the packages that reach one program from two installs (a package whose declarations arrive only through another package's `.d.ts`, as `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk`'s do, is invisible to a scan of first-party imports). Prices each copy from the lockfile entry for the exact install path the program resolved, compares only the installs that met in one program, and **fails deny-by-default** on any disagreement not in the annotated `TOLERATED_SKEW` allowlist — empty today — with an allowlisted package tolerated only *within a major version*. Runs in `validate`.
| `npm run ci` | **Mandatory pre-push command.** `validate` → `coverage` → `verify:build-gate` → `smoke` → Storybook. A true superset of GitHub CI. |
| `npm run pack:verify` | Publish smoke — see [Publishing](#publishing). |
| Script | What it does |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `npm run validate` | Runs the three durable guards first — `verify:format-coverage` (every tracked source file is format-gated), `verify:typecheck-coverage` (every one lands in a tsconfig project), `verify:dep-lockstep` (no dependency reaching one `tsc` program from two installs skews across them) — then `test:scripts` (the guards' own parser unit tests), then `validate:core` (the shared `core/` `format:check` + `lint` gate), then per client: `format:check` + `lint` + **`typecheck`** (cli/tui/launcher; web typechecks via `tsc -b` inside its `build`) + `build` + fast unit tests. The quick inner-loop check. |
| `npm run coverage` | The **per-file ≥90% gate** (lines/statements/functions/branches) under v8 instrumentation, per client. CI-enforced. For web this also runs the integration project and covers the shared `core/` runtime (including `core/json` and `core/client`). |
| `npm run smoke` | End-to-end smokes through the built launcher (`--help` dispatch + prod cli/tui/web), plus two headless-Chromium smokes: a boot smoke that runs the prod web bundle and asserts a clean first render (no uncaught error — sync exception or unhandled rejection, how a Node built-in reaching the browser bundle manifests), and an **MCP Apps** smoke (`smoke:web:app`) that drives connect → open app → `data-app-status="ready"` against a composable App server, covering the sandbox proxy and UI-protocol bridge. |
| `npm run verify:build-gate` | Runs a real `vite build` with a Node built-in forced into the browser graph and asserts the build **fails** via the #1769 gate (which turns Vite's browser-externalization warning into a hard error). Guards against the warning phrasing drifting in a Vite bump and silently disabling the gate. Part of `npm run ci`. |
| `npm run verify:format-coverage` | Parses the `format:check` globs out of every `package.json` (only those reachable from `validate`), enumerates all tracked source files, and **fails** listing any not covered by a glob — the durable guard for the "every first-party source file is format-gated" invariant (#1792). Runs first in `validate`. |
| `npm run test:scripts` | Table-driven unit tests (`node --test`) for the guard's own pure parsers (`scripts/lib/npm-scripts.mjs`, `scripts/lib/tsc-program.mjs` + the exported helpers of `verify-typecheck-coverage.mjs` and `verify-dep-lockstep.mjs`), one case per rule they encode, plus `scripts/lib/resolve-node-bin.test.mjs` — the cross-platform bin resolver (#1939), pinned against the real `bin`/`exports` shapes of the packages the scripts actually spawn. Runs in `validate` — and `verify:typecheck-coverage` guards _this_ gate in turn (reachable from `validate`, non-empty test set, every test file matched by the `test:scripts` glob), since `node --test` silently skips a file its glob misses and still exits 0. |
| `npm run verify:typecheck-coverage` | The typecheck-coverage analog of the above (#1791): for each Node client (auto-discovered from disk — enrolled via its `typecheck` script's projects, or for a `tsc -b` client like `clients/web` via its `tsconfig.json` `references`) it runs those projects with `tsc --listFilesOnly`, unions them, and **fails** listing any tracked `.ts`/`.tsx`/`.mts`/`.cts` under the client that lands in no project (so a new top-level config/helper can't silently go untypechecked). It also requires, deny-by-default, the first-party TS no client owns (`test-servers/src`, the root `vitest.shared.mts`, all of `core/`, and any new top-level location) to land in some client project's tsc pass — so a `core` `*.tsx` web's projects don't reach is caught too. Also asserts the gate is wired (each client's typecheck pass — its `typecheck` script, or web's `tsc -b` — is reachable from its `validate`, and the root chain runs each client's `validate`). Runs in `validate`. |
| `npm run verify:dep-lockstep` | Guards the "one version per install-crossing dependency" invariant (#1896). v2 is not a workspace, so a client's test project compiles the shared first-party TypeScript — `core/`, `test-servers/src`, and the root-owned `vitest.shared.mts`, all of which resolve their dependencies from the **root** install — alongside the client's own sources, putting the same package in one `tsc` program twice. At the same version that's harmless; skewed, TypeScript must relate two structurally-distinct copies of every type, which for a recursive-generic surface is exponential (zod `4.3.6` vs `4.4.3` exhausted the 4GB tsc heap in `clients/web`). Derives its candidate set from **what actually enters each program** (#1965) — every client tsconfig project listed with `tsc --listFilesOnly` via the shared `scripts/lib/tsc-program.mjs`, each resolved `node_modules` file mapped to its owning install, keeping the packages that reach one program from two installs (a package whose declarations arrive only through another package's `.d.ts`, as `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk`'s do, is invisible to a scan of first-party imports). Prices each copy from the lockfile entry for the exact install path the program resolved, compares only the installs that met in one program, and **fails deny-by-default** on any disagreement not in the annotated `TOLERATED_SKEW` allowlist — empty today — with an allowlisted package tolerated only _within a major version_. Runs in `validate`. |
| `npm run ci` | **Mandatory pre-push command.** `validate` → `coverage` → `verify:build-gate` → `smoke` → Storybook. A true superset of GitHub CI. |
| `npm run pack:verify` | Publish smoke — see [Publishing](#publishing). |
Per-client scripts exist too (`validate:web`, `coverage:cli`, `smoke:tui`, …), plus root `validate:core` / `format:core` for the shared `core/` package, `format:scripts` for the root `scripts/` tooling, and `format:shared` / `lint:shared` for the root "shared" surface (`test-servers/src/**`, `vitest.shared.mts`, the root `eslint.config.js`). Run `npm run format` before committing — the root `format` fixes `core/`, the root `scripts/`, the shared surface, and every client; `validate` runs the non-fixing `format:check` and fails CI on any unformatted file.
@ -371,7 +371,7 @@ The root `package.json` `"files"` allowlist is the source of truth for the tarba
- **No source maps.** The client bundlers set `sourcemap: false` (`clients/{cli,tui}/tsup.config.ts`, `clients/web/tsup.runner.config.ts`); Vite and the launcher's `tsc` already emit none. Maps are ~half the unpacked size and aren't needed at runtime — debug via `npm run dev` on the source.
- **`clients/web/build` ships via `clients/web/.npmignore`.** `clients/web/.gitignore` lists `build/`, and npm's packlist honors that nested `.gitignore` over the root `"files"` allowlist — so the prod web-server runner was silently missing from the tarball while `clients/web/dist` slipped through (its `.gitignore` only lists `dist-ssr`). `clients/web/.npmignore` overrides the `.gitignore` for publishing so both `build/` (runner) and `dist/` (SPA) ship. The other clients don't need this — none ship a nested `.gitignore`.
- **`clients/web/static` ships the MCP Apps sandbox proxy.** `clients/web/static/sandbox_proxy.html` is a committed source file (not a build artifact), read from disk at runtime by `clients/web/server/sandbox-controller.ts` as `<runner dir>/../static/sandbox_proxy.html`. It was missing from the root `"files"` allowlist entirely, so every published build failed the Apps tab with **"Sandbox not loaded"** ([#1859](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1859)) while working fine in the repo. Because the path is resolved _relative to_ `clients/web/build`, the directory must ship at that exact location — `pack:verify` asserts both the tarball entry and the installed-on-disk path.
- **A dependency that renders React is bundled, not externalized.** An externalized package resolves its own `react` from wherever npm placed **it** in the consumer's tree, which is not necessarily where the bundle resolves ours — npm places a package beside a React satisfying *its* peer range, and those ranges are looser than ours. `ink-form` and `ink-scroll-view` declare `">=18"`, so a project holding React 18 satisfies them and gets them hoisted while the Inspector's React 19 nests underneath: two React copies, and the TUI dies with `TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'useState')` the moment a tool test form or a scroll view mounts ([#1952](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1952)). Both are therefore inlined by `clients/tui/tsup.config.ts` and are **not** root dependencies: the tarball ships their code inside `clients/tui/build/index.js` rather than having consumers install them. Bundling also pins their transitive deps to what this repo's install resolved (notably `ink-select-input@6` via `overrides`, which npm ignores for a package installed as a dependency). **`ink` is the one exception, on cost:** bundling it works but adds ~1.4 MB (`react-reconciler` and `yoga-layout` come along, plus a `createRequire` banner for the inlined CJS), so it stays external — *not* because its `">=19"` peer makes it safe, which it does not. What keeps that tolerable is the root `react` range: `"^19.0.0"` is deliberately open to the whole major so npm can dedupe our React with whatever React 19 a consumer pins, leaving an external `ink` on the same copy the bundle uses. **Narrowing that range reopens the bug for the renderer itself** — `clients/tui/__tests__/tsupConfig.test.ts` pins it to `ink`'s peer floor, and guards the rest of the split; see the [TUI README](./clients/tui/README.md#bundling-react-rendering-dependencies-must-be-inlined-1952).
- **A dependency that renders React is bundled, not externalized.** An externalized package resolves its own `react` from wherever npm placed **it** in the consumer's tree, which is not necessarily where the bundle resolves ours — npm places a package beside a React satisfying _its_ peer range, and those ranges are looser than ours. `ink-form` and `ink-scroll-view` declare `">=18"`, so a project holding React 18 satisfies them and gets them hoisted while the Inspector's React 19 nests underneath: two React copies, and the TUI dies with `TypeError: Cannot read properties of null (reading 'useState')` the moment a tool test form or a scroll view mounts ([#1952](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1952)). Both are therefore inlined by `clients/tui/tsup.config.ts` and are **not** root dependencies: the tarball ships their code inside `clients/tui/build/index.js` rather than having consumers install them. Bundling also pins their transitive deps to what this repo's install resolved (notably `ink-select-input@6` via `overrides`, which npm ignores for a package installed as a dependency). **`ink` is the one exception, on cost:** bundling it works but adds ~1.4 MB (`react-reconciler` and `yoga-layout` come along, plus a `createRequire` banner for the inlined CJS), so it stays external — _not_ because its `">=19"` peer makes it safe, which it does not. What keeps that tolerable is the root `react` range: `"^19.0.0"` is deliberately open to the whole major so npm can dedupe our React with whatever React 19 a consumer pins, leaving an external `ink` on the same copy the bundle uses. **Narrowing that range reopens the bug for the renderer itself** — `clients/tui/__tests__/tsupConfig.test.ts` pins it to `ink`'s peer floor, and guards the rest of the split; see the [TUI README](./clients/tui/README.md#bundling-react-rendering-dependencies-must-be-inlined-1952).
- **A single version number, read from the root `package.json`.** The Inspector ships as one package with one version, so only the **root** `package.json` carries a `version` — the four `clients/*/package.json`s deliberately have none. Every Node client (CLI, TUI, and the web backend) resolves the version through the shared `readInspectorVersion()` reader in `core/node/version.ts`, which walks up to the root manifest (always present in the tarball). No client `package.json` is read at runtime, so none needs to ship. The web **browser** can't read the filesystem; it gets its version from the backend via `GET /api/config` (see [#1639](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/1639)).
### `npm run pack:verify` — publish smoke against the real tarball
@ -403,7 +403,7 @@ npm version minor --no-git-tag-version # or major / patch; bump only, no tag
**2. Merge `v2/main` → `main`** through the usual milestone-merge branch. It now carries the bump, so the release lands on `main` with the version already correct.
Between steps 1 and 2 the two branches **do** differ, and that is expected, not drift: `v2/main` reads the version being built while `main` still reads the one currently released. What this ordering removes is *post-release* drift — once the milestone merge lands they agree again, and `v2/main` is never left **behind** `main`. If you see `v2/main` ahead of `main`, a release is in flight; if you see it behind, something went wrong.
Between steps 1 and 2 the two branches **do** differ, and that is expected, not drift: `v2/main` reads the version being built while `main` still reads the one currently released. What this ordering removes is _post-release_ drift — once the milestone merge lands they agree again, and `v2/main` is never left **behind** `main`. If you see `v2/main` ahead of `main`, a release is in flight; if you see it behind, something went wrong.
**3. Tag the `main` commit and draft the Release:**
@ -419,7 +419,7 @@ git tag 2.3.0 origin/main && git push origin 2.3.0
The release's target commit selects which workflow runs, so this only publishes when a release is cut from a commit carrying this (v2) workflow.
**Why the bump goes on `v2/main` first ([#2010](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/2010)).** It used to happen on the milestone-merge branch, which is cut from `main` — so the bump existed only *downstream* of `v2/main` and nothing carried it back. `v2/main` sat at `2.0.0` through both the 2.1.0 and 2.2.0 releases. That is not cosmetic: a branch cut from a milestone-merge branch silently carries the bump into an unrelated PR (this happened on [#2009](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/2009), where a container bugfix arrived with a `2.0.0 → 2.2.0` diff), and anything reading the version in development — `readInspectorVersion()`, `--version`, `GET /api/config` — reported a version two releases old.
**Why the bump goes on `v2/main` first ([#2010](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/2010)).** It used to happen on the milestone-merge branch, which is cut from `main` — so the bump existed only _downstream_ of `v2/main` and nothing carried it back. `v2/main` sat at `2.0.0` through both the 2.1.0 and 2.2.0 releases. That is not cosmetic: a branch cut from a milestone-merge branch silently carries the bump into an unrelated PR (this happened on [#2009](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector/issues/2009), where a container bugfix arrived with a `2.0.0 → 2.2.0` diff), and anything reading the version in development — `readInspectorVersion()`, `--version`, `GET /api/config` — reported a version two releases old.
Do **not** "fix" a future drift by merging `main` back into `v2/main`. `main` carries the entire pre-v2 v1 history (retained through `ec5d8e13 chore: replace main's tree with v2` — ~230 commits `v2/main` does not have), so a back-merge grafts all of it into the develop branch's log permanently in order to deliver a two-file change. Bumping first means there is nothing to back-merge.
@ -457,17 +457,17 @@ docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 \
The same volume also persists OAuth tokens and stored state, so an authorized server stays authorized across runs. Use `-e MCP_CATALOG_PATH=/some/other/path.json` to put the catalog somewhere else — mount a volume covering whatever directory you point it at. If you **bind-mount a host directory** instead of a named volume (`-v "$PWD/inspector-data:/home/node/.mcp-inspector"`), the directory keeps its host ownership, so on Linux add `--user "$(id -u):$(id -g)"` or `chown` it to uid `1000` — otherwise the non-root `node` user can't write and adding a server fails with `EACCES`.
**Where secrets go, and how to make them survive (#1950).** The Inspector keeps the values it deliberately does *not* write to `mcp.json` — an OAuth client secret, an enterprise IdP client secret, each stdio `env:` value — in the **OS keychain**. A container has no keychain (the published image has no D-Bus session), so on startup the Inspector probes for one and falls back, saying so in the logs and in a permanent footer at the bottom of the Client Settings and Server Settings dialogs. Which fallback you get depends on whether the directory it would write to is going to survive:
**Where secrets go, and how to make them survive (#1950).** The Inspector keeps the values it deliberately does _not_ write to `mcp.json` — an OAuth client secret, an enterprise IdP client secret, each stdio `env:` value — in the **OS keychain**. A container has no keychain (the published image has no D-Bus session), so on startup the Inspector probes for one and falls back, saying so in the logs and in a permanent footer at the bottom of the Client Settings and Server Settings dialogs. Which fallback you get depends on whether the directory it would write to is going to survive:
| Situation | Store | Secrets survive a restart? |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Keychain reachable (a normal desktop install) | OS keychain | Yes |
| Container, **no volume** on `/home/node/.mcp-inspector` | Memory | No — session only |
| Container **with** that volume, or any host without a keychain | `~/.mcp-inspector/secrets.json`, mode `0600` | Yes |
| Situation | Store | Secrets survive a restart? |
| -------------------------------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Keychain reachable (a normal desktop install) | OS keychain | Yes |
| Container, **no volume** on `/home/node/.mcp-inspector` | Memory | No — session only |
| Container **with** that volume, or any host without a keychain | `~/.mcp-inspector/secrets.json`, mode `0600` | Yes |
So the same volume that keeps your server list also switches secrets from session-scoped to durable — nothing extra to configure. The in-memory default for an unmounted container is deliberate: a file in the writable layer is discarded by `--rm` and by every image update, and promising durability it can't deliver is worse than declining to.
**A file-backed store is unencrypted unless you give it a key.** Set `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_KEY` to any passphrase and the file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM (the passphrase is stretched with scrypt against a per-file random salt). Without it the file is still `0600`, but the values are readable to anyone who can read the file — which the startup log and the settings footer both say, every session, in a warning tone:
**A file-backed store is unencrypted unless you give it a key.** Set `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_KEY` and the file is encrypted with AES-256-GCM (the passphrase is stretched with scrypt against a per-file random salt). Without it the file is still `0600`, but the values are readable to anyone who can read the file — which the startup log and the settings footer both say, every session, in a warning tone:
```bash
docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 \
@ -476,9 +476,11 @@ docker run --rm -p 127.0.0.1:6274:6274 \
ghcr.io/modelcontextprotocol/inspector
```
Setting the passphrase later is safe — the next write upgrades an existing plaintext file in place. **Changing or losing it is not**: a file that can no longer be decrypted is read as empty and *refuses to be written*, rather than being silently replaced with a new one holding only your latest secret. Restore the original passphrase, or delete `secrets.json` and re-enter the values.
**Use a high-entropy passphrase — generated, not chosen.** The random salt stops an attacker precomputing a table across files; it does nothing against _guessing_, and the scrypt cost is deliberately low because the derivation runs on every read and write. Anyone who obtains `secrets.json` can therefore test candidate passphrases quickly and offline, so treat this value like any other credential rather than like a memorable password.
Two env vars override the automatic choice: `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_STORE=keyring|file|memory` picks the store outright, and `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_FILE` moves the file.
Setting the passphrase later is safe — the next write upgrades an existing plaintext file in place. Until that write happens the existing values really are still readable, and the banner and footer keep saying so rather than reporting the file as encrypted the moment the variable appears. **Changing or losing the passphrase is not safe**: a file that can no longer be decrypted is read as empty and _refuses to be written_, rather than being silently replaced with a new one holding only your latest secret. Restore the original passphrase, or delete `secrets.json` and re-enter the values.
Three env vars affect where the file lands. `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_STORE=keyring|file|memory` picks the store outright, bypassing the probe. `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_FILE` names the file. Failing both, the file follows `MCP_STORAGE_DIR` — the same variable that relocates OAuth tokens and `client.json` — so mounting a volume at your configured storage directory is enough to make secrets durable there.
**Upgrading from an image before this fix?** Earlier images did not create `/home/node/.mcp-inspector`, so Docker created the volume's mount point as `root` and the non-root `node` user couldn't write to it. An **empty** volume repairs itself on the first run of a current image (Docker applies the image directory's ownership to an empty volume), but one that already has files in it keeps its old `root` ownership and still fails with `EACCES`. Fix it once: