feat(auth): file-backed and in-memory SecretStore for hosts with no keychain

Closes #1950

Before this, a box with no reachable OS keychain — the published
container (no D-Bus session, #1848), Android/Termux (no platform binary,
#1905), a minimal Linux install without libsecret — could not persist an
OAuth client secret or a stdio `env:` value at all. `KeyringSecretStore`
degraded into a store that silently holds nothing: `get` returned null,
`delete` no-opped, and `set` hard-failed with a 503. That is the correct
failure behavior, but it left the documented, supported way to run the
Inspector with no secret persistence whatsoever.

Adds the two missing implementations and, more importantly, the policy
that picks one and the surfaces that say which was picked.

- `FileSecretStore` — one `0600` JSON document at
  `~/.mcp-inspector/secrets.json`, encrypted with AES-256-GCM whenever
  `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_KEY` is set (scrypt, per-file random salt). The
  whole map is encrypted as a unit rather than value-by-value so the
  account names — `${serverId}:${field}` — are hidden too; a per-value
  scheme would leave a readable index of which servers you hold a client
  secret for. A file that can no longer be decrypted reads as empty
  (matching the interface's read tolerance) but *refuses to be written*,
  because replacing a file of still-valid secrets to satisfy an additive
  request destroys data.

- `secret-store-selection.ts` — the policy.
  `MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_STORE=keyring|file|memory` wins outright;
  otherwise probe the keychain and, if unreachable, fall back loudly. The
  fallback is `memory` in a container whose secrets directory is not on a
  mount, and `file` otherwise — so mounting the volume the README already
  recommends for the catalog flips the same run to durable storage with
  no configuration, and an unmounted container gets the honest answer
  rather than a file `--rm` will discard. Cached per process so the
  banner, `/api/config`, and the store doing the writing cannot disagree.

- Automatic, but never silent. The downgrade prints at startup, rides
  `GET /api/config`, and is named in a permanent 32px footer at the
  bottom of both dialogs that accept a secret. A startup banner is seen
  once by whoever started the process; a toast is seen once; a
  dismissible banner is the thing a user dismisses before doing the work
  it describes. The plaintext and memory cases render their caveat inline
  in a warning tone — a warning you must hover to discover is not one.

- `SecretStoreUnavailableError` is now the base every store's `set`
  throws, so the routes translate one condition into a 503 instead of
  matching `KeychainUnavailableError` by name.

Docs: the container section of the root README gains a table of which
store you get and how to make secrets survive, plus the
`MCP_INSPECTOR_SECRET_KEY` upgrade/mismatch rules.

Tests: the existing interface contract block is extracted to
`secretStoreContract.ts` and run against all three implementations, so
none can drift on the availability contract. `FileSecretStore` is tested
against a real temp filesystem — mode, cross-instance round-trip, that
the ciphertext does not contain the plaintext, the read-modify-write
race, and every refusal path. Full `npm run ci` passes, per-file gate
included.

Signed-off-by: cliffhall <cliff@futurescale.com>
This commit is contained in:
cliffhall 2026-08-22 12:06:31 -04:00
commit bc408f5869
2 changed files with 2827 additions and 146 deletions

View file

@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
import {
KeyringSecretStore,
type SecretStore,
} from "../../auth/node/secret-store.js";
import type { SecretStore } from "../../auth/node/secret-store.js";
import { defaultSecretStore } from "../../auth/node/secret-store-selection.js";
import type { InspectorServerSettings, MCPServerConfig } from "../types.js";
import { DEFAULT_MAX_FETCH_REQUESTS, DEFAULT_TASK_TTL_MS } from "../types.js";
import { mcpConfigToServerEntries } from "../serverList.js";
@ -32,7 +30,8 @@ export type ResolvedServer = {
* broadcast into every resolved server's settings. */
export type ServerLoadOptions = ServerConfigOptions & {
headers?: Record<string, string>;
/** Test injection; defaults to {@link KeyringSecretStore} for catalog/config loads. */
/** Test injection; defaults to the selected store (see
* `secret-store-selection.ts`) for catalog/config loads. */
secretStore?: SecretStore;
};
@ -104,7 +103,7 @@ export async function loadServerEntries(
if (source) {
let config = readServerListFile(source.path, source.writable);
const secretStore = serverOptions.secretStore ?? new KeyringSecretStore();
const secretStore = serverOptions.secretStore ?? defaultSecretStore();
config = await rehydrateMcpConfigFromKeychain(config, secretStore);
const entries = mcpConfigToServerEntries(config);
const result: Record<string, ResolvedServer> = {};

View file

@ -65,10 +65,10 @@ import { RemoteSession } from "./remote-session.js";
import { createRemoteAuthProvider } from "./tokenAuthProvider.js";
import { API_SERVER_ENV_VARS } from "../constants.js";
import {
KeychainUnavailableError,
KeyringSecretStore,
SecretStoreUnavailableError,
type SecretStore,
} from "../../../auth/node/secret-store.js";
import { defaultSecretStore } from "../../../auth/node/secret-store-selection.js";
import {
deleteClientConfigStore,
readClientConfigStore,
@ -76,6 +76,7 @@ import {
} from "../../../client/node-persistence.js";
import { formatClientConfigLoadError } from "../../../client/config-parse.js";
import { envSecretField } from "../../../auth/secret-fields.js";
import type { SecretStorageInfo } from "../../../auth/secret-storage-info.js";
import { ZodError } from "zod";
/**
@ -189,6 +190,15 @@ export interface InitialConfigPayload {
* a legacy backend that predates the field; the UI just shows nothing then.
*/
version?: string;
/**
* Where secrets typed into this session end up (#1950): the OS keychain,
* a file, or memory. The browser cannot work this out for itself — the
* store lives entirely on the Node side — and it is what the permanent
* footer in the Client/Server Settings modals reports. Absent on a
* legacy backend, in which case the footer renders nothing rather than
* guessing "keychain", since a wrong answer here is worse than none.
*/
secretStorage?: SecretStorageInfo;
}
export interface RemoteServerOptions {
@ -243,9 +253,11 @@ export interface RemoteServerOptions {
/**
* Backend for per-server secret values that we keep out of mcp.json
* (OAuth client secret, stdio env values). Defaults to a
* `KeyringSecretStore` that talks to the OS keychain via
* `@napi-rs/keyring`. Tests inject `InMemorySecretStore` so the suite
* doesn't need libsecret on Linux CI runners.
* store selected for this host — the OS keychain where one is
* reachable, otherwise the file or in-memory fallback chosen by
* `secret-store-selection.ts` (#1950). Tests inject
* `InMemorySecretStore` so the suite doesn't need libsecret on Linux CI
* runners.
*/
secretStore?: SecretStore;
}
@ -490,8 +502,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
const { logger: fileLogger, allowedOrigins } = options;
const storageDir = options.storageDir ?? getDefaultStorageDir();
const mcpConfigPath = options.mcpConfigPath ?? getDefaultMcpConfigPath();
const secretStore: SecretStore =
options.secretStore ?? new KeyringSecretStore();
const secretStore: SecretStore = options.secretStore ?? defaultSecretStore();
// Read-only session support (#1481/#1483). `writable: false` rejects every
// /api/servers mutation and suppresses the seed/migrate writes on read.
@ -1830,9 +1841,11 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
// Centralizes the "write the secrets in this entry to the keychain" and
// "fetch all secrets for this entry from the keychain" steps so the
// POST/PUT/DELETE/GET handlers stay readable. Each operation translates a
// `KeychainUnavailableError` from the underlying store into a Hono 503
// — the only realistic trigger is Linux without libsecret, and the user
// can install it without restarting.
// `SecretStoreUnavailableError` from the underlying store into a Hono
// 503 — a keychain the user can install without restarting (Linux
// without libsecret), or a secrets file we refuse to overwrite because
// the passphrase changed (#1950). Both are fixable outside the process,
// which is what makes 503 the right code rather than 500.
// Same Promise.all reasoning as `readKeychainEntriesFor`: each set
// is a native round-trip and there's no ordering requirement among
@ -1896,7 +1909,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
// knows whether to persist the cleanup.
//
// When the keychain is unavailable (Linux without libsecret), the
// first `secretStore.set` throws `KeychainUnavailableError`. We catch
// first `secretStore.set` throws `SecretStoreUnavailableError`. We catch
// it and abandon the migration for this GET — the on-disk file stays
// as-is so the user's secret isn't lost, and the next GET retries
// (e.g. after the user installs libsecret).
@ -1926,7 +1939,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
changed = true;
}
} catch (err) {
if (err instanceof KeychainUnavailableError) {
if (err instanceof SecretStoreUnavailableError) {
if (fileLogger) {
fileLogger.warn(
{ err: err.message },
@ -2016,7 +2029,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
c: Context,
err: unknown,
): Response | undefined => {
if (err instanceof KeychainUnavailableError) {
if (err instanceof SecretStoreUnavailableError) {
return c.json({ error: err.message }, 503);
}
return undefined;
@ -2182,7 +2195,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
// goes to disk, the values go to the keychain.
const { stripped, secrets } = extractSecretsFromStored(built);
// Order: sweep → keychain → disk. The keychain write is the
// only step that can hard-fail (KeychainUnavailableError on
// only step that can hard-fail (SecretStoreUnavailableError on
// `set`); doing it before the disk write means a 503 leaves no
// disk entry behind, so a retry POST isn't trapped at 409. The
// initial sweep handles the case where a previous DELETE failed
@ -2439,7 +2452,7 @@ export function createRemoteApp(
// disk file, then clean up obsolete keychain entries.
//
// - Keychain set is the only hard-fail step (it raises 503 on
// `KeychainUnavailableError`). Doing it first means a failed
// `SecretStoreUnavailableError`). Doing it first means a failed
// set leaves both disk and keychain in their pre-PUT state;
// the user retries and nothing is half-applied.
// - The disk write happens after the keychain is fully primed,