@prowl-ai/prowl-skill 0.5.6 → 0.5.7

package/CHANGELOG.md

@@ -1,5 +1,58 @@
 # Changelog
 
+## v0.5.7 — 2026-08-23
+
+Package `@prowl-ai/prowl-skill` 0.5.7 · plugins `prowl` 0.4.4, `prowl-cli` 0.2.6
+(unchanged).
+
+A first run with no key opened a browser and left the operator holding a callback into
+a port that had already died. It now refuses to start, and says what to do instead.
+
+### Fixed
+
+- **The MCP launcher no longer strands the operator in a half-finished OAuth flow.**
+  With no API key configured, `plugins/prowl/.mcp.json` used to hand `mcp-remote` an
+  empty `Authorization: Bearer ` header. The server rejects that, and `mcp-remote`
+  falls back to OAuth — which opens a browser and starts a `localhost` listener to
+  catch the callback. An MCP server spawned at agent startup does not survive long
+  enough to be there when consent completes: the listener is gone, the redirect hits a
+  dead port, and the operator is left holding a URL with an authorization code that
+  expires before anything can be done with it.
+
+  Measured on one machine on 2026-08-22: two such flows in a single day, both
+  stranded. The second left `~/.mcp-auth/mcp-remote-0.1.43/…_lock.json` recording
+  `{"pid": 68661, "port": 4333}` for a process that no longer existed.
+
+  The launcher now resolves the key, and **refuses to start without one** — printing
+  the two supported ways to supply it and exiting `78` (`EX_CONFIG`, `sysexits.h`)
+  rather than reaching `mcp-remote` at all. A key that is present but empty or
+  whitespace-only counts as absent.
+
+- **The README said 22 MCP tools; the server registers 23.** `npm run check:contract`
+  reads the count off `https://prowl.chat/mcp/` and had no claim in the README to check
+  it against — the number sat one line below a heading no gate reads. The skill page
+  already said 23.
+
+### Added
+
+- **`test/mcp_launch_test.js`** — 12 checks that execute the real `.mcp.json` launcher
+  rather than reading it. A fake `npx` on the launcher's own PATH captures the argv, so
+  the suite can assert both halves: that no key means `npx` is never reached, and that
+  each documented key source (`PROWL_MCP_TOKEN`, the plugin file, the Codex file)
+  reaches `mcp-remote` carrying that exact key, in that precedence.
+
+  Shadowing `npx` by PATH alone does not work here — `sh -lc` is a login shell, and on
+  macOS `/etc/profile` runs `path_helper`, which pushes an injected PATH entry to the
+  end. A `.profile` in the fake `HOME` is sourced afterwards and does win; that is what
+  the suite uses. Nothing in it touches the network.
+
+  Verified to have teeth: against the previous launcher, 6 of the 12 checks fail, and
+  the failure output is the defect itself — `'Authorization: Bearer '`. That proof is
+  now the fourteenth plant in `scripts/negative-self-test.js`, so every CI run removes
+  the refusal from `.mcp.json` and requires the suite to go red on `npx ran without a
+  key` — a suite that quietly stopped checking this would otherwise report the same
+  green as one that still does.
+
 ## v0.5.6 — 2026-08-16
 
 Package `@prowl-ai/prowl-skill` 0.5.6 · plugins `prowl` 0.4.3 (unchanged), `prowl-cli`

package/README.md

@@ -97,6 +97,8 @@ Then ensure `[plugins."prowl@prowl"] enabled = true` in `${CODEX_HOME:-$HOME/.co
 
 The bundled `.mcp.json` connects to `https://prowl.chat/mcp` via `mcp-remote`, reading the token from `PROWL_MCP_TOKEN` or `~/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token`.
 
+With no key in either place the server **refuses to start** — it prints the two ways to supply one and exits `78` (`EX_CONFIG`). It deliberately does not fall through to `mcp-remote`'s OAuth: that opens a browser and waits on a `localhost` callback, and an MCP server started by an agent is killed long before the consent screen comes back, leaving the operator holding a redirect into a dead port.
+
 ### Manual MCP config (any client)
 
 Configure a Streamable HTTP MCP server at `https://prowl.chat/mcp` with header `Authorization: Bearer prowl_YOUR_KEY`. See <https://prowl.chat/mcp/install.md> for per-client snippets (Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, generic).
@@ -137,7 +139,7 @@ pruned after seven days, and the plugin never writes to your Claude Code setting
 
 ## What your agent gets
 
-- **22 MCP tools** front the whole catalog — discovery and schema lookup are free; only data calls are metered.
+- **23 MCP tools** front the whole catalog — discovery and schema lookup are free; only data calls are metered.
 - **3 execution modes** for `prowl_analyze` — `basic` (20–100 calls, 30–90s), `deep` (40–300, 3–5 min, needs Exploit+) and `max` (60–400, 5–10 min, needs Blackops+). A key without the subscription is downgraded to `basic` rather than refused.
 - **8 playbooks** — `geo-visibility-audit`, `competitor-teardown`, `content-engine`, `local-and-reputation`, `mobile-aso`, `amazon-marketplace`, `idea-validation`, `channel-economics-audit`.
 - **Verified reports** — a typed evidence ledger extracts claims, attacks them adversarially, then gap-fills what survives. Contradictions and refuted claims ship inside the report.

package/package.json

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@prowl-ai/prowl-skill",
-  "version": "0.5.6",
+  "version": "0.5.7",
   "description": "The Prowl plugin: install/usage skills, the hosted MCP config, and the live status widget that makes a running Prowl call, its progress and its cost visible in the terminal. This package is the installer CLI.",
   "keywords": [
     "prowl",

package/plugins/prowl/.claude-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
   "name": "prowl",
   "displayName": "Prowl",
   "description": "Prowl market-intelligence skill backed by the hosted Prowl MCP server (448 tools), with a status widget that makes a running call, its progress and its cost visible in the terminal.",
-  "version": "0.4.3",
+  "version": "0.4.4",
   "author": {
     "name": "Prowl",
     "email": "support@prowl.chat",

package/plugins/prowl/.codex-plugin/plugin.json

@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
   "$schema": "https://json.schemastore.org/claude-code-plugin-manifest.json",
   "name": "prowl",
   "displayName": "Prowl",
-  "version": "0.4.3",
+  "version": "0.4.4",
   "description": "Prowl market-intelligence skill backed by the hosted Prowl MCP server (448 tools), with a status widget that makes a running call, its progress and its cost visible in the terminal.",
   "author": {
     "name": "Prowl",

package/plugins/prowl/.mcp.json

@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@
       "command": "sh",
       "args": [
         "-lc",
-        "TOKEN=\"${PROWL_MCP_TOKEN:-}\"; if [ -z \"$TOKEN\" ] && [ -f \"$HOME/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token\" ]; then TOKEN=\"$(cat \"$HOME/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token\")\"; fi; if [ -z \"$TOKEN\" ] && [ -f \"$HOME/.codex/prowl_mcp_token\" ]; then TOKEN=\"$(cat \"$HOME/.codex/prowl_mcp_token\")\"; fi; exec npx -y mcp-remote https://prowl.chat/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN\" --transport http-first --silent"
+        "TOKEN=\"$(printf %s \"${PROWL_MCP_TOKEN:-}\" | tr -d \"[:space:]\")\"; if [ -z \"$TOKEN\" ] && [ -f \"$HOME/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token\" ]; then TOKEN=\"$(tr -d \"[:space:]\" < \"$HOME/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token\")\"; fi; if [ -z \"$TOKEN\" ] && [ -f \"$HOME/.codex/prowl_mcp_token\" ]; then TOKEN=\"$(tr -d \"[:space:]\" < \"$HOME/.codex/prowl_mcp_token\")\"; fi; if [ -z \"$TOKEN\" ]; then echo 'prowl: no API key; the MCP server will not start.' >&2; echo 'prowl: store one with:  npx @prowl-ai/prowl-skill token' >&2; echo 'prowl: or set PROWL_MCP_TOKEN in the environment.' >&2; echo 'prowl: not falling back to OAuth - browser consent cannot finish inside MCP startup.' >&2; exit 78; fi; exec npx -y mcp-remote https://prowl.chat/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN\" --transport http-first --silent"
       ]
     }
   }

package/plugins/prowl/skills/prowl/SKILL.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ license: MIT
 compatibility: Requires network access to prowl.chat and a Prowl API token; speaks MCP protocol 2025-06-18 over Streamable HTTP; the bundled MCP config runs `npx mcp-remote` (needs Node.js 18+).
 metadata:
   author: prowl.chat
-  version: "0.4.3"
+  version: "0.4.4"
 ---
 
 # Prowl — market intelligence for your agent
@@ -28,6 +28,8 @@ Prowl API keys (`prowl_...`) are billing-bearing — every metered call debits a
    - a token file at `~/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token` (`mkdir -p ~/.prowl && printf '%s' "prowl_YOUR_KEY" > ~/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token && chmod 600 ~/.prowl/prowl_mcp_token`).
 3. The bundled `.mcp.json` reads the token automatically and connects via `mcp-remote`.
 
+Without a key the server does not start: it names both ways to supply one and exits `78`. That is deliberate — it will not fall through to OAuth, because browser consent cannot finish inside an MCP startup. If the agent reports the `prowl` server as failed, read its stderr: the remedy is in it.
+
 For manual per-client setup (Cursor `.cursor/mcp.json`, Claude Code `claude mcp add`, Codex `config.toml`, generic MCP), see the hosted playbook: [https://prowl.chat/mcp/install.md](https://prowl.chat/mcp/install.md).
 
 ## Core tools