## Motivation and Context
The ping utility says the receiver "MUST respond promptly with an empty response",
and a server may treat a missing answer as a stale connection and drop it. Both reference SDKs honor
that on the client side (the TypeScript protocol layer installs an automatic pong,
and the Python session answers `PingRequest` with an empty result), but this client answered
a server ping with Method not found over Streamable HTTP and ignored it entirely over stdio,
leaving long-lived legacy sessions vulnerable to a liveness-checking server.
Over HTTP, an unhandled `ping` is now answered with the empty result in `dispatch_server_request`.
The default deliberately does not live in `@server_request_handlers`: that registry's `any?` opens
the GET listening stream on connect, and a built-in pong must not change listener behavior -
a server can only ping on a stream that is already open. A handler registered via
`on_server_request("ping")` still wins.
Over stdio, the read loop now answers a ping frame inline and keeps waiting for its response.
Frames are told apart by shape rather than id: one carrying `method` is a request or notification,
never the awaited response, so a server-chosen ping id that collides with the awaited one is still answered -
and a request frame can no longer be returned to the caller as if it were the response.
Between requests nothing reads stdout, so a queued ping is answered when the next request starts reading,
which is inherent to the single-threaded stdio client. Other server-to-client requests over stdio stay
unsupported as documented.
The pong is best effort on both transports, in the ways the reference SDKs imply: a pong that cannot be written
over a broken stdin is dropped instead of failing the unrelated request whose response the loop is reading,
and a ping whose id is not a String or a Number - a shape the TypeScript and Python schemas reject outright -
is not answered with a pong: over stdio it is skipped entirely, and over HTTP it falls through to Method not found,
exactly as before this change.
The modern lifecycle removes `ping` altogether (SEP-2575), so this applies to handshake-lifecycle connections only.
## How Has This Been Tested?
New transport tests: over HTTP, a ping delivered on the SSE stream results in a POSTed empty-result response with
the ping's id, and a user-registered `"ping"` handler overrides the default; over stdio, a ping injected while
a response is awaited is answered on stdin and the original response still returns. Both fail without the change
(Method not found / no answer). Further tests cover the best-effort edges: a pong write failure over
a closed stdin leaves the awaited response intact, and a malformed-id ping is skipped over stdio
and answered with Method not found over HTTP. `bundle exec rake` (tests, RuboCop, and conformance baseline) passes.
## Breaking Changes
None. A server ping that previously received Method not found (or nothing) now receives the empty result
the specification requires.
## Motivation and Context
Follow-up to https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk/issues/512#issuecomment-5285679761
A comment on #512 reported that results stay unstamped when a client negotiates `2026-07-28` through
the legacy `initialize` handshake: the SEP-2322 `resultType` stamp and the SEP-2549 cache hints are
both gated on the per-request `_meta` envelope, which such a connection never carries,
so strictly validating clients reject every result as missing the REQUIRED `resultType`.
The root cause sits upstream of the stamp. Per the SEP-2575 era model, an era is a property of
the protocol version itself: legacy versions establish a session via `initialize`
(`2025-11-25` and earlier), and modern versions carry their version on every request in `_meta` with
no handshake at all - the 2026-07-28 schema defines no `initialize`, and a request without the envelope
is malformed. The negotiation list of this server still contained `2026-07-28`, producing a hybrid state
the spec does not define and the reference SDKs refuse to construct: the TypeScript server negotiates
from `SUPPORTED_PROTOCOL_VERSIONS`, which stops at `2025-11-25`, and counter-offers its first entry;
the Python server negotiates from `HANDSHAKE_PROTOCOL_VERSIONS`, which stops there too,
and counter-offers `LATEST_HANDSHAKE_VERSION`.
`initialize` now negotiates from a new `SUPPORTED_HANDSHAKE_PROTOCOL_VERSIONS` list
(`2025-11-25` and earlier): a request for `2026-07-28`, or for a version this server does not know,
is counter-offered `2025-11-25`, exactly as both reference SDKs answer. A counter-offered client proceeds on
`2025-11-25`, where `resultType` does not exist and its absence is the correct shape,
resolving the reported rejection. `2026-07-28` stays reachable through `server/discover` and
the per-request envelope, where the stamps already apply. The `envelope &&` stamp gates are
intentionally unchanged: with the handshake capped, an envelope-less `2026-07-28` connection is
no longer constructible, so the gates are correct by construction.
The client side is symmetrized the same way, matching both reference SDKs:
the legacy handshake offers `LATEST_HANDSHAKE_PROTOCOL_VERSION` by default,
passing an explicitly modern `protocol_version` to the legacy connect raises `ArgumentError`
(validated before the stdio transport spawns its child process), and a server answering `initialize` with
a modern version is rejected like an unknown one. `:auto` forwards an explicitly modern version to
the discovery probe and never downgrades it into the legacy fallback: the probe's failure is
the real answer and propagates, instead of the fallback dying on the handshake guard.
The handshake rule itself lives in one place (`Configuration.reject_modern_handshake_version!`),
and the handshake list is derived from the stable and modern lists so the era partition cannot drift
when the next revision lands.
Two consequences are worth naming. The roots/sampling deprecation warnings move to the modern connect
on the client, the revision where SEP-2577 actually deprecates them, since the handshake can no longer land
on a deprecating version and the call site the warnings used to sit on had become unreachable.
On the server the answer is removal: `Configuration#protocol_version` scopes the handshake,
so it now accepts handshake versions only and rejects a modern pin with `ArgumentError` at construction.
Accepting one would configure nothing (a modern version has no handshake to pin),
and neither reference SDK carries a config value that is accepted but inert:
Python's negotiation has no knob at all, and every entry of the TypeScript server's `supportedProtocolVersions`
is consumed by its own era's mechanism. With no path left onto a deprecating revision,
the server-side deprecation warning plumbing became unreachable and is removed along with it.
Keying those warnings on a modern-era session instead was tried and rejected,
because `notify_log_message` is the SEP-2575 sanctioned delivery path on that wire and every log line
would then carry a deprecation warning for doing exactly what the revision prescribes
(a single test file produced over a thousand of them).
A session-bound request may still stamp `MCP-Protocol-Version: 2026-07-28` after being counter-offered,
and such a request continues to be served at the negotiated revision rather than rejected.
Sending the negotiated version is a SHOULD on the client, and the spec's `400 Bad Request` rule
covers a version the server does not support, which is not the case here: this server does serve `2026-07-28`,
through the other lifecycle. The session it is bound to decides, and a test now pins that reading along with
its consequence, which is that no `resultType` appears on those results.
Two details follow from the pin being handshake-scoped. Reading it back when nothing is set
now answers `LATEST_HANDSHAKE_PROTOCOL_VERSION` rather than the newest version of any era,
so the getter no longer hands out a value its own writer rejects and round-tripping
the setting keeps working; only `Server#validate!` reads that default,
through three comparisons that answer the same for either value, so nothing else moves.
And the rejection names its reason instead of listing the accepted versions,
because this is the error an upgrade from a release that accepted the value lands on,
which makes it the migration note a bare list would not be.
`MCP::ProtocolDeprecations` says in its own documentation that only the client emits these warnings now,
and that `LOGGING_MESSAGE` has no caller left. It stays public and callable: removing it would be
a breaking change for no gain.
The handshake examples in `docs/building-clients.md` and the shared `initialize_params` test helper
now use the handshake version as well, and the README section on `protocol_version` describes the pin as
handshake-scoped: handshake versions only, `ArgumentError` for a modern one, the handshake version as the default,
and `2026-07-28` reached through `server/discover` with no configuration needed.
## How Has This Been Tested?
New regression tests pin the reported scenario end to end: an `initialize` requesting `2026-07-28` is
counter-offered `2025-11-25`, locks the legacy era, and subsequent results carry no `resultType`
(the correct shape at that revision). Client-side tests cover the default `2025-11-25` offer,
the `ArgumentError` for an explicitly modern version on the legacy connect
(asserting no child process is spawned on the stdio transport), the rejection of a modern `InitializeResult`
on both transports, the `:auto` probe failure propagating for an explicitly modern version instead of
falling back, and the deprecation warning firing on modern connects declaring roots/sampling capabilities.
Counter-offer adoption gets its own test on both transports, since the server-side fix only resolves anything for
clients that honor a counter-offer, and this client is one of them: the offer is the latest handshake version,
the answer is an older one, and the connection speaks the answer afterwards
(over HTTP the next request's `MCP-Protocol-Version` header carries it). The existing tests could not tell adoption
from an echo, because every one of them had the server answer with the version the client had just offered.
Both new tests were confirmed to fail when the client is made to report its own offer instead.
Tests that pinned the previous dual-lifecycle negotiation were inverted or reworked:
the server tests asserting `2026-07-28` echoes and fallbacks now assert the counter-offer,
and the deprecation warning tests keyed on a legacy-negotiated `2026-07-28` now assert no warning fires.
The server-side deprecation tests that reached their state by calling `mark_initialized!` with a modern version,
or by pinning one in `Configuration`, were replaced by tests asserting no warning fires on those paths,
since no code path can produce the warning state any more; `Configuration` rejecting a modern pin has its own tests
on the constructor and the setter, asserting the reason in the message rather than the list of accepted values.
The default-pin test now also round-trips what it reads back into a fresh `Configuration`,
which is what the old default could not do. The default move was checked for neutrality outside
the suite as well, by building a server that uses every feature `Server#validate!` gates on that value
(`description`, `title`, `website_url`, `instructions`, a `$ref` input schema, and tool annotations)
and confirming all of them are still accepted.
## Breaking Changes
Servers no longer echo `2026-07-28` from `initialize`: clients that negotiated it through
the handshake are counter-offered `2025-11-25` and are served at that revision, matching
the TypeScript and Python servers. `Configuration.new(protocol_version: "2026-07-28")` now
raises `ArgumentError` (the pin scopes the handshake, which cannot land there);
the value was only accepted since v1.1.0, whose handshake behavior this change replaces anyway.
Reading `Configuration#protocol_version` with no pin set answers `2025-11-25` instead of `2026-07-28`;
nothing in this SDK behaves differently for either value, but code comparing that reader against
a literal will see the change. The client no longer offers modern versions on the legacy handshake
and rejects a modern `InitializeResult`. Server-side deprecation warnings for SEP-2577 features
no longer fire at all, because no negotiation or configuration path can put a connection on a deprecating revision;
the client-side warning on a modern connect replaces them.
## Motivation and Context
Final step of the stateless lifecycle (SEP-2575, modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol#2575) for
the 2026-07-28 MCP spec release, now that the server core and both server transports can serve modern traffic.
Server side, `Server#discover` reaches its spec-final shape:
- `supportedVersions` advertises modern versions only, matching the TypeScript and Python SDKs:
legacy versions are negotiated via `initialize`, not selected from discovery. This also closes
an interop hazard of the interim response: auto-negotiating TS and Python clients treat
any `DiscoverResult` as proof of a modern server and do not fall back to `initialize`,
so advertising only legacy versions made them fail outright.
- The `ttlMs`/`cacheScope` cache hints are REQUIRED on `DiscoverResult` (unlike the opt-in SEP-2549 hints
on list and read results), so the spec defaults (`0`, `"private"`) fill in when the server was not configured with
`ttl_ms`/`cache_scope`, and the configured SEP-2549 values are reused otherwise.
- The server identity rides in the result `_meta` as the optional `io.modelcontextprotocol/serverInfo` stamp
instead of a top-level `serverInfo` field, following spec PR modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol#3002
(the TypeScript SDK stamps `_meta` the same way and the Python `DiscoverResult` carries no top-level
`serverInfo`, so the top-level placement was invisible to both). `Client#discover` and
the `server_implementation` reader read the `_meta` stamp with a top-level fallback for servers built
against the frozen SEP text, and the key is exposed as `RequestEnvelope::SERVER_INFO_META_KEY`.
Client side, both bundled transports learn the modern lifecycle, and `MCP::Client` negotiates it automatically by default:
- `MCP::Client#discover` sends `server/discover` and returns a `DiscoverResult` struct
(`supported_versions`, `capabilities`, `server_info`, `instructions`, `ttl_ms`, `cache_scope`).
It works before `connect`; the stdio transport's connect guard exempts `server/discover`
and spawns the subprocess on demand.
- `connect` gains `mode:` and defaults to automatic negotiation, joining the Python, Go, and C# SDKs
(the TypeScript SDK keeps a legacy default): transports whose `connect` declares `mode:`
(the bundled HTTP and stdio transports) receive `:auto`, which probes `server/discover`
and falls back to the legacy handshake on any discovery failure, including a successful discovery
without a mutually supported modern version (rollout tolerance for servers that answer discovery
while only serving legacy versions). Custom transports whose `connect` does not declare `mode:`
keep receiving the historical legacy call shape, detected by keyword introspection;
a bare `**kwargs` deliberately does not count, so wrappers and test doubles that absorb arbitrary keywords
stay on the legacy shape. An explicit `:modern`/`:auto` against such a transport raises `ArgumentError`
instead of silently downgrading.
- The mode vocabulary is `:legacy`/`:auto` (shared with the Python and TypeScript SDKs) plus an explicit `:modern`,
instead of folding a version-string pin into `mode` as Python and TypeScript do: this client has carried
the scalar `protocol_version:` keyword since the handshake landed, so a second version-bearing input would make
the API ambiguous about which one wins. `mode:` stays the strategy and `protocol_version:` stays the version,
the same orthogonal split as the Go and C# scalar version pins; Python's `mode="2026-07-28"` is expressed here
as `mode: :modern` with `protocol_version: "2026-07-28"`.
- An explicit legacy-generation `protocol_version` (e.g. `"2025-11-25"`) pins the legacy handshake without a probe,
so an explicitly requested version is never overridden by the default negotiation adopting the modern lifecycle.
`mode: :legacy` forces the classic handshake unconditionally; prefer it for spawn-per-invocation CLI tools
and when using server-initiated requests, which exist only on the legacy lifecycle.
- Because the raw `connect` return value and `server_info` mirror the wire result, their shape depends
on the negotiated era (`InitializeResult` vs `DiscoverResult`). New era-independent readers absorb that difference:
`MCP::Client#protocol_version` (negotiated or adopted version; backed by a new stdio transport reader and the existing HTTP one),
`#server_capabilities`, `#instructions`, and `#server_implementation`, which reads the spec-final `_meta`
`io.modelcontextprotocol/serverInfo` stamp with a top-level fallback and returns `nil` when a modern server
does not identify itself. `server_info` remains the permanent raw window to everything the readers do not cover.
- The stdio `server/discover` probe is bounded by a new `DEFAULT_DISCOVER_PROBE_TIMEOUT` (5 seconds, matching the C# SDK)
when no `read_timeout` was configured: a compliant legacy server answers the probe with `-32601` immediately,
but a non-compliant one that silently drops unknown methods must read as legacy evidence for the auto fallback
instead of blocking `connect` forever. Regular requests keep the unbounded default.
- In modern mode, the new shared `MCP::Client::ModernEnvelope` stamps the SEP-2575 `_meta` triple onto
every request (never onto notifications, whose `_meta` carries no envelope), reusing the reserved key names
from `MCP::RequestEnvelope`. The HTTP transport sends the matching `MCP-Protocol-Version` header and
keeps the existing `Mcp-Method`/`Mcp-Name` mirror headers; no `Mcp-Session-Id` is ever attached because `initialize`
is never sent.
- The conformance client pins `mode: :legacy`: the referee validates the legacy `initialize` handshake
and its scenario servers do not expect a preceding probe.
Resolves#389.
## How Has This Been Tested?
New tests in `test/mcp/server_test.rb` pin the required cache hints (spec defaults and configured SEP-2549 values);
the existing discover assertions across `server_test.rb` and both transport test files were updated to
the modern-only `supportedVersions`.
New tests in `test/mcp/client_test.rb` cover the `DiscoverResult` struct mapping, `ValidationError`/`ServerError`
on malformed and error responses, and the mode resolution contract: the `:auto` default on transports declaring `mode:`,
the unchanged legacy call shape for transports without it, the legacy pin for an explicit stable `protocol_version`,
`ArgumentError` for explicit non-legacy modes on transports without `mode:`, unknown-mode rejection,
and the era-independent readers against legacy results, modern results, the `_meta` `serverInfo` stamp, and absence.
New tests in `test/mcp/client/http_test.rb` cover modern adoption via discovery, envelope stamping with
the matching header on subsequent requests, the no-mutual-version failure, both auto-mode fallbacks,
and argument validation. New tests in `test/mcp/client/stdio_test.rb` cover pre-connect `server/discover`,
modern adoption with envelope stamping and no `initialize` frame, the auto-mode fallback, the probe timeout
default applying only while probing, and the fallback when a server never answers the probe.
## Breaking Changes
`server/discover` responses change shape (modern-only `supportedVersions` plus the required `ttlMs`/`cacheScope`);
this method has not shipped in a gem release yet, so no released behavior changes.
On the bundled HTTP and stdio transports, `MCP::Client#connect` without `mode:` now probes `server/discover` before
the legacy handshake: against legacy servers this adds one round trip and an unknown-method entry in their logs with
an unchanged final result, and once a server serves the modern lifecycle the connection adopts it, changing
the raw result shape from `InitializeResult` to `DiscoverResult`. Pass `mode: :legacy` or an explicit legacy-generation
`protocol_version` to keep the previous behavior unconditionally, or use the era-independent readers, which are stable
across both lifecycles. Custom transports without `mode:` and direct `transport.connect` calls are unaffected.
Warn when Roots, Sampling, or Logging APIs are used with MCP protocol version 2026-07-28 or newer.
Add a shared protocol deprecation helper, YARD deprecation notes, and regression tests covering warnings at and after the deprecation threshold and no warnings for older or never-established protocol versions.
Closes https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/ruby-sdk/issues/390
Co-authored-by: Qlaw <noreply@qlaw.quick.shopify.io>
## Motivation and Context
A JSON-RPC message is an object, but two stdio-facing paths assumed that and raised
on a non-object value parsed from an incoming frame:
- `JsonRpcHandler.handle` maps each element of a batch array through `process_request`,
which reads `request[:id]` assuming a Hash. A non-object batch element (for example `[[]]`
or `[5]`) makes `[][:id]` raise `TypeError`. `handle_json` rescued only `JSON::ParserError`,
so the error escaped; over stdio it escaped the `StdioTransport#open` read loop.
The HTTP transport already rejects array bodies before dispatch, so this surfaced only on stdio.
- `MCP::Client::Stdio#read_response` parses each frame from the server and calls `parsed.key?("id")`,
which raises `NoMethodError` when the server emits a non-object frame.
Only `JSON::ParserError` was rescued, so one malformed line from the server escaped.
Both are robustness gaps: a malformed frame should be reported or skipped, not raise
an unhandled exception out of the transport.
- `process_request` now returns an `INVALID_REQUEST` error response for a non-object request
before touching `request[:id]`, so a malformed batch element becomes a normal per-element error.
- `handle_json` gains a last-resort `StandardError` rescue that returns an `INTERNAL_ERROR` response,
so an unexpected handling error still produces a JSON-RPC reply.
- `read_response` skips a non-object frame the same way it skips a frame without an id.
## How Has This Been Tested?
New tests in `test/json_rpc_handler_test.rb` cover non-object batch elements
(`[[]]`, `[5]`, `["x"]`, `[nil]`, `[true]`), a valid request followed by one non-object element,
and `handle_json("[[]]")` returning an error instead of raising. A test in
`test/mcp/server/transports/stdio_transport_test.rb` drives `open` with a `[[]]` line and
asserts it emits an error response without raising. A test in `test/mcp/client/stdio_test.rb`
has the server emit non-object frames before the response and asserts the client skips them
and still returns the response.
## Breaking Changes
None. A well-formed request, batch, or response is handled exactly as before;
only a non-object message now yields a JSON-RPC error on the server or is skipped by the client
instead of raising.
## Motivation and Context
Both transports read a peer-controlled message fully into memory with no upper bound,
so a single unauthenticated message can allocate gigabytes and OOM the worker:
- `StreamableHTTPTransport#handle_post` did `request.body.read` with no size limit
before `JSON.parse`. A single ~512 MB POST grew a worker from 44 MB to 1.66 GB RSS
in the reporter's measurement. The path runs before session validation,
so it is reachable unauthenticated in both stateful and `stateless: true` modes.
- `StdioTransport` and `MCP::Client::Stdio` read frames with `IO#gets` and no `limit:`,
so a peer that never emits a newline grows a single String until the process is OOM-killed.
This matters when a host pipes an untrusted server's stdout into an unconstrained process.
The spec does not mandate a request size limit, and the reference SDKs vary
(the TypeScript SDK caps at a 4 MB default; Python/Go delegate to the web framework).
A finite default here bounds the allocation at the transport layer regardless of the deployment,
matching the TypeScript SDK's default.
- `StreamableHTTPTransport` gains `max_request_bytes:` (default 4 MiB). `handle_post`
rejects a declared `Content-Length` over the cap before reading, and also bounds
the actual read to one byte past the cap so a missing or spoofed `Content-Length`
(chunked transfer) is still caught, returning HTTP 413. `parse_request_body` now passes
`max_nesting:` (64) so a deeply nested body cannot exhaust the stack (complements the byte cap).
The constructor validates the new option as a positive Integer, since `nil` or a non-positive
value makes the underlying read unbounded and would silently disable the protection.
- The stdio `max_line_bytes:` bound (default 4 MiB) has since been merged upstream through
a separate advisory, so this change carries the remaining piece of the reported stdio fix:
an over-limit frame leaves leftover bytes in the pipe, desyncing the stream beyond recovery,
so `MCP::Client::Stdio` now closes the transport before raising and a later `send_request`
fails cleanly instead of parsing a truncated frame.
## How Has This Been Tested?
New tests in `test/mcp/server/transports/streamable_http_transport_test.rb` cover the 413 rejection
with and without `Content-Length`, the boundary body being accepted, the nesting-depth rejection,
and the constructor validation. The client stdio over-limit test now also asserts the transport
is closed afterward (`refute_predicate(transport, :connected?)`).
`bundle exec rake` (tests, RuboCop, and conformance baseline) passes. Verified end-to-end that
a 256 MB POST with no declared `Content-Length` is rejected with 413 without the transport reading
the whole body (a throttled `rack.input` that raises if read far past the cap is never tripped).
## Breaking Changes
None. The 4 MiB defaults comfortably fit a typical JSON-RPC message (a 4 MiB JSON string decodes to
roughly 3 MiB of base64 payload), and the new keyword arguments are additive and optional.
## Motivation and Context
CRuby's `IO#gets` without a limit reads until the next newline with no upper bound.
A peer that never emits a newline can therefore grow a single String until the process
is killed by the OS OOM killer.
This is a denial-of-service exposure (GHSA-7683-3w9x-ch42), identified during
a cross-SDK audit of the same unbounded-buffer pattern across the MCP SDKs.
It is most relevant when a host application spawns a sandboxed or untrusted MCP server
and pipes its stdout into an unconstrained host process, where a memory-capped peer
can exhaust the host.
Each frame is now capped at a configurable `max_line_bytes` (default 4 MiB,
large enough for any realistic frame including base64-embedded images,
and the value recommended in the advisory). A frame that reaches the limit without
a newline is treated as a transport error: the client raises, and the server reports
the error and closes the connection. A short final frame that ends at EOF without
a trailing newline is still accepted, so legitimate traffic is unaffected.
Both constructors validate `max_line_bytes:` as a positive Integer,
since `nil` or a non-positive value makes `IO#gets` read without an upper bound and
would silently disable the protection.
## How Has This Been Tested?
Server tests cover the `open` read loop stopping and reporting on an over-limit frame,
the `send_request` read loop raising on an over-limit response, and a valid final frame
without a trailing newline still being processed.
Client tests cover `read_response` raising on an over-limit response frame and
a normal response still round-tripping within a custom `max_line_bytes`.
Both transports also have tests rejecting invalid `max_line_bytes:` values
(`nil`, zero, negative, non-Integer) with an `ArgumentError`.
The full test suite and RuboCop pass.
## Breaking Changes
None. The default 4 MiB limit is far larger than any realistic JSON-RPC frame,
so existing well-behaved traffic is unaffected. The new `max_line_bytes:` keyword
on both transport constructors is purely additive and optional.
## Motivation and Context
The MCP specification requires an `initialize` request followed by `notifications/initialized`
before any other interaction. Issue #334 makes that handshake explicit on the stdio client,
matching the Python SDK (`ClientSession.initialize()`) and TypeScript SDK (`Client.connect(transport)`).
The change was staged to avoid a hard break. Phase 1 (#336) added `MCP::Client::Stdio#connect`
while keeping an implicit-init compatibility shim on the first `send_request`.
Phase 2 (#338) emitted a deprecation warning when that shim ran. The warning has shipped since 0.16.0,
so this final phase removes the shim.
## How Has This Been Tested?
`send_request` now raises a `RuntimeError` when `connect` has not been called, and no longer
auto-starts the subprocess. `connect` is the sole entry point that spawns the process and
performs the handshake, which avoids leaving an orphaned subprocess behind.
The stdio test suite was reworked to call `connect` explicitly, a regression test was added for
the new guard, and `rake test` passes (1145 runs, 0 failures).
## Breaking Changes
Stdio clients that send requests without calling `MCP::Client#connect` now raise a `RuntimeError`
instead of silently initializing. Call `client.connect` before the first request.
Closes#334
## Motivation and Context
The server-side half of MCP `notifications/cancelled` shipped earlier and lets handlers
observe cancellation via `server_context.cancelled?` / `raise_if_cancelled!`.
This PR delivers the client-side equivalent that was deferred at the time:
an `MCP::Client` user can now cancel a request they have already issued and have
the calling thread wake up, matching the Python SDK
(`anyio.CancelScope`) and TypeScript SDK (`AbortSignal`) ergonomics.
The recommended pattern is to pass an `MCP::Cancellation` token into the request method,
run the request on a worker thread, and call `cancellation.cancel(reason:)` from another thread.
The cancelling thread sends `notifications/cancelled` to the server, and the calling thread is
woken up with `MCP::CancelledError`:
```ruby
cancellation = MCP::Cancellation.new
Thread.new do
client.call_tool(name: "slow_tool", arguments: {}, cancellation: cancellation)
rescue MCP::CancelledError
# cleanup
end
cancellation.cancel(reason: "user pressed cancel")
```
For low-level use, `Client#cancel(request_id:, reason:)` sends the notification without managing
the calling thread, and `Client#generate_request_id` lets callers pre-allocate an id before kicking off
a request on another thread. The `request_id:` and `cancellation:` keywords are accepted by
every request method (`tools`, `list_tools`, `resources`, `list_resources`, `resource_templates`,
`list_resource_templates`, `prompts`, `list_prompts`, `call_tool`, `read_resource`, `get_prompt`,
`complete`, `ping`).
When `cancellation:` is supplied, the actual blocking `transport.send_request` runs on a worker thread;
the calling thread waits on a `Queue` woken either by the response or by the cancel signal
(whichever arrives first - the same race contract as the server-side `StreamableHTTPTransport#cancel_pending_request`).
On a normal completion the `on_cancel` hook is deregistered so a late cancel does not emit a stray `notifications/cancelled`.
The worker thread is *not* force-killed when a cancel wins the race; it stays blocked on the underlying I/O until
the transport actually returns (or the user closes it). For `Client::HTTP` the leak resolves as soon as
the server sends any response; for `Client::Stdio` the user may need to call `client.transport.close`
if the server stops responding entirely.
`Client::Stdio` and `Client::HTTP` gain `send_notification(notification:)` so `Client#cancel` can deliver
the JSON-RPC notification through the existing transport plumbing. Custom transports that do not implement
`send_notification` cause `Client#cancel` to raise `NoMethodError`.
Ref: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/utilities/cancellation
## How Has This Been Tested?
`test/mcp/client_test.rb` covers `Client#cancel` payload (with and without `reason`),
`Client#generate_request_id` returning distinct UUIDs, every request method threading `request_id:` through,
and the full `cancellation:` flow:
- Returns the response when no cancel happens (no behaviour regression for callers that do not pass a token).
- Pre-cancelled token raises `MCP::CancelledError` immediately and never reaches the transport
(no stray request, no stray notification).
- Mid-flight cancel raises `MCP::CancelledError` carrying the supplied reason and sends `notifications/cancelled`
through the transport.
- Late cancel after a normal completion does not emit a stray notification
(the `on_cancel` hook is deregistered in the `ensure` block).
`test/mcp/client/stdio_test.rb` covers `send_notification` writing the JSON line through the spawned process
and returning `nil` without waiting for a response.
`test/mcp/client/http_test.rb` covers `send_notification` POSTing the body, tolerating HTTP 202 Accepted,
and surfacing Faraday errors as `RequestHandlerError`.
## Breaking Change
None. All new keywords (`request_id:`, `cancellation:`) on request methods are optional and default to `nil`.
Existing callers that do not pass them get the original synchronous behaviour. Custom transports that already
implement `send_request(request:)` continue to work; only callers of `Client#cancel` need a transport
that responds to `send_notification`, and the failure mode is a clear `NoMethodError` rather than silent breakage.
## Motivation and Context
This commit implements Phase 1 of 3 for #334.
The MCP specification requires an `initialize` request followed by
a `notifications/initialized` notification before any other interaction.
PR #327 added `MCP::Client#connect` and `MCP::Client::HTTP#connect`
to expose this handshake explicitly for the HTTP transport,
but stdio remained on its private `initialize_session` lazy-init path,
inconsistent with the Python SDK (`ClientSession.initialize()`) and
TypeScript SDK (`Client.connect(transport)`),
both of which require an explicit handshake call regardless of transport.
The implicit init path on the first `send_request` is
preserved as a non-breaking compatibility shim. Public API added on `Stdio`:
- `connect(client_info:, protocol_version:, capabilities:)` performs the
handshake, validates the negotiated `protocolVersion` against
`MCP::Configuration::SUPPORTED_STABLE_PROTOCOL_VERSIONS`,
caches the `InitializeResult`, and is idempotent.
- `connected?` reports handshake completion.
- `server_info` exposes the cached `InitializeResult`.
Documentation and examples are updated so new users learn the explicit pattern
from the start.
## How Has This Been Tested?
Fifteen regression tests cover: explicit handshake, `server_info` caching,
idempotence, custom keyword arguments, JSON-RPC error response, missing
or non-Hash `result`, unsupported protocol version with state rollback,
state rollback when the `notifications/initialized` write fails,
retry after a failed handshake, and the `connected?` / `server_info` lifecycle.
The pre-existing stdio tests pass without modification, verifying that
the implicit-init compatibility path still works.
## Breaking Changes
None for the typical "implicit init via `client.tools` / `client.call_tool`" usage.
Existing stdio clients keep working unchanged.
Three observable behavior changes for code that inspects transport state directly:
- `Client#connected?` for a never-initialized stdio client returns `false`
(previously fell through to a `true` default via the `respond_to?` fallback).
- `Client#server_info` for stdio returns the cached `InitializeResult`
after the handshake (previously always `nil` via the fallback).
- The implicit handshake path now validates the server's negotiated
protocol version, raising `RequestHandlerError` for unsupported versions.
Production servers that return one of the supported versions are unaffected;
this closes a pre-existing spec-conformance gap on stdio.
## Motivation and Context
The `MCP::Client` currently only supports HTTP transport (`MCP::Client::HTTP`).
To achieve parity with other MCP SDKs (Python, TypeScript, C#) which provide
stdio client transports for spawning and communicating with server subprocesses,
the Ruby SDK needs a stdio client transport.
https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/transports#stdio
This enables building MCP clients that launch server processes and communicate
via stdin/stdout using newline-delimited JSON-RPC 2.0 messages.
## How Has This Been Tested?
Added tests for process spawning, protocol initialization handshake,
notification handling, error handling, and transport close lifecycle.
## Additional context
Enabled the `Lint/IncompatibleIoSelectWithFiberScheduler` cop in `.rubocop.yml`
to detect accidental use of `IO.select` instead of `IO#wait_readable`.
Koichi ITO
Ates Goral