stitchkit 0.93.0 → 0.94.0

package/llms/tools.txt

@@ -0,0 +1,1004 @@
+# stitchkit/tools — stitchkit docs slice, part 1 of 2
+
+> Generated from the `docs/` tree by `bun run gen:llms`. The index of all slices is
+> `llms.txt` in this package.
+> Continues in `llms/tools.2.txt`.
+
+Parts of this slice:
+- `llms/tools.txt`: Guide: MCP & agents  (docs/guide/mcp-and-agents.md)
+- `llms/tools.2.txt`: Guide: MCP & agents  (docs/guide/mcp-and-agents.md) · API reference: `stitchkit/tools`  (docs/api/reference.md)
+
+==============================================================================
+# Guide: MCP & agents  (docs/guide/mcp-and-agents.md)
+==============================================================================
+
+# MCP & AI agents
+
+The application generated by `bun create stitchkit` includes a working
+stateless MCP endpoint and a separate `bun run tools` manifest command. Both
+are assembled from the same implemented project contracts as HTTP and CLI, so
+the generated project is the canonical end-to-end example for this chapter.
+
+The same contract that drives the HTTP API also drives AI tooling. An endpoint
+exposed on `MCP` becomes a [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io)
+tool — callable from Claude, Cursor and other MCP clients. An endpoint exposed on
+`AGENT` becomes a [Vercel AI SDK](https://sdk.vercel.ai) tool — callable from an
+agent loop. Contract operations are never re-described by hand; pathless
+runtime operations use one framework definition shared by both tool transports.
+
+## Which endpoints become tools
+
+By default every endpoint is a tool on every transport. `expose` narrows it:
+
+```ts
+{ method: 'GET', path: '/search', desc: 'Search the catalog' }                  // HTTP + MCP + AGENT
+{ method: 'POST', path: '/sync', desc: 'Internal sync', expose: ['HTTP'] }       // HTTP only
+{ method: 'GET', path: '/lookup', desc: 'Look up a price', expose: ['MCP'] }     // MCP tool only
+```
+
+Four kinds of endpoint are **never** tools, whatever `expose` says: a
+`multipart` upload (not a tool call), a `rawBody` endpoint (HTTP-only by
+construction), a [`responseMeta`](./server.md#typed-json-response-metadata)
+endpoint (outbound HTTP headers mean nothing on a tool call), and a
+[`rawResponse`](./server.md#raw-response-endpoints) endpoint (its answer is
+bytes — a tool result cannot carry them, and it would reach the model as `{}`).
+Pin the full list with `listToolNames` in a snapshot test.
+
+`desc` is the tool description the model reads — write it for the model, not
+just for a human. The tool name defaults
+to a verb-aware name from the method + prefix (`list` → `list_widgets`, `get` →
+`get_widget`); set `tool.name` for an explicit one. Derivation normalises **per half**
+(→ ADR 0035): the service half turns everything outside `[a-zA-Z0-9_]` into `_`,
+hyphen included (`bot-status` ⇒ `get_bot_status`), while the method half keeps
+its hyphen (`get-user` ⇒ `get-user_notes`) because such a name has always been
+legal and may already be pinned in a client config. A name is *accepted* if it
+matches `[a-zA-Z0-9_-]`. A name that
+still cannot be delivered (illegal explicit `tool.name`, over 64 characters, or a
+prefix with no usable character) throws at mount rather than at the first model
+call —
+→ [ADR 0035](../decisions/0035-tool-name-derivation-and-validation.md). See
+[Contracts → transports](./contracts.md#transports).
+
+### Pinning tool names — `listToolNames`
+
+Derived tool names are part of your public surface — an MCP client config or an
+agent prompt refers to them by string. `listToolNames({ services, runtimeTools })`
+resolves the complete mixed surface (the exact resolver the mounts use), with
+its origin, `(service, method)` identity and transports, sorted — a stable shape
+to snapshot:
+
+```ts
+import { listToolNames } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+
+test('tool names have not drifted', () => {
+  expect(listToolNames({ services, runtimeTools })).toMatchSnapshot()
+})
+```
+
+A stitchkit upgrade (or a contract refactor) that would shift a derived name
+now fails this test instead of silently breaking the clients that call the
+tool. It is also the mechanical diff when migrating a service: run it before
+and after, compare.
+
+> **This is also the guard against a forgotten `expose`.** An endpoint that
+> declares none is a tool on MCP **and** AGENT — the default is fail-open, and
+> there is no contract-level `expose` to set once (→
+> [ADR 0036](../decisions/0036-contract-level-meta.md)). A snapshot of
+> `listToolNames` fails the build the moment an endpoint you meant to keep
+> HTTP-only shows up in the list, which is the one check that catches it however
+> many places the line was forgotten.
+
+## In-process calls — `createToolInvoker`
+
+When one application operation dispatches to a contract tool, do not mount an
+AI SDK `ToolSet` and call its transport adapter manually. Compile an in-process
+invoker once and call the shared framework runner directly:
+
+```ts
+import { createToolInvoker } from 'stitchkit/tools/invoker'
+
+const invoker = createToolInvoker(services, {
+  transport: 'AGENT',       // required exposure policy
+})
+
+const result = await invoker.invoke('update_entity', args, {
+  source: 'internal',       // default; audit names the real call source
+  context: { identity },
+  lifecycle,
+  hooks,
+})
+
+// Composition path: validated data or the exact normalized AppError.
+const data = await invoker.invokeOrThrow('update_entity', args, {
+  context: { identity },
+  lifecycle,
+  hooks,
+})
+```
+
+`transport` is required and uses the exact existing `MCP`, `AGENT` or `CLI`
+exposure rules; there is no internal bypass mode. The immutable name lookup is
+compiled once. Call-specific identity, context, lifecycle and hooks are passed
+to `invoke` / `invokeOrThrow`, so one registry can safely serve parallel and
+recursive calls without retaining request state. Every invocation gets a fresh
+tool-call context and runs the same extension resolution, input/output
+validation, lifecycle, hooks and output-strip reporter as mounted tools.
+
+The dedicated entrypoint needs only the normal `stitchkit`/`zod` install. Use
+the broader `stitchkit/tools` barrel when the same program also mounts MCP or AI
+adapters and has installed their optional peers. Both imports reach the same
+runner; this is dependency isolation, not a second execution implementation.
+
+`invoke` returns the canonical discriminated `ToolResult`, not an AI SDK or MCP
+presentation envelope. `invokeOrThrow` returns validated data and throws the
+runner's normalized `AppError` on failure, preserving an application error's
+code, status, message, details and hint without reconstructing it from the
+model-safe envelope. Unexpected throws remain scrubbed. An unknown name throws
+`AppError('NOT_FOUND')` before the runner because there is no operation identity
+against which hooks could run. Duplicate and provider-invalid names fail when
+the invoker is created.
+
+The invoker's caller is code, so it gets an endpoint's full answer even where a
+[tool view](#a-different-answer-for-tools--withtoolview) is declared. When the
+invoker backs a transport a model reads, pass `toolSurface: true`: calls then
+get the view's defaults and projected answer, which is what `collectTools` and
+`buildToolManifest` advertise.
+
+## MCP — `createMcpHandler`
+
+`createMcpHandler` builds a complete stateless Streamable-HTTP MCP endpoint on
+the official TypeScript SDK v2 server package. It owns server creation,
+protocol-era negotiation and shutdown; application code does not import the SDK
+to mount a normal endpoint.
+
+```ts
+import { createMcpHandler, createMcpHttpRoute } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+import { createServer } from 'stitchkit/server'
+
+const mcp = createMcpHandler({
+  serverInfo: { name: 'my-app', version: '1.0.0' },
+  auth: (req) => resolveApiKey(req),   // → an identity, or null for 401
+  services: [usersService, catalogService],
+})
+
+createServer({
+  services,
+  rawRoutes: [createMcpHttpRoute({ path: '/mcp', handler: mcp })],
+})
+
+// During graceful shutdown:
+await mcp.close()
+```
+
+### `McpHandlerConfig`
+
+| Field | Purpose |
+|-------|---------|
+| `serverInfo` | MCP server identity — `{ name, version }` |
+| `auth` | `(req) => identity \| null` — `null` rejects with 401 |
+| `services` | the services to expose — an array, or `(auth) => ServiceDef[]` |
+| `runtimeTools` | managed pathless operations — an array, or `(auth) => RuntimeToolDefinition[]` |
+| `surfaces` | finite `{ key: { services, runtimeTools } }` registry prepared eagerly |
+| `selectSurface` | `(auth) => declaredKey` — required with `surfaces` |
+| `context` | `(auth) => {…}` — values merged into every tool handler's `ctx` |
+| `lifecycle` | `beforeHandle` / `afterHandle` — the tool-side auth gate (see below) |
+| `multiRound` | Typed MRTR state policy for guarded multi-round tool calls |
+| `hooks` | tool-call observability hooks — `afterToolCall` fires on every result |
+| `extend` | extra advertised arguments resolved into handler context |
+| `schemaValidation` | compatibility policy, typed-property guard and portable-format guard |
+| `logger` | a `StitchLogger` for the `'warn'` policy |
+| `rawTools` | `(server, auth) => …` — explicit SDK registration without framework guarantees |
+| `resources` | MCP Apps `ui://` resources mounted on every server |
+| `instructions` | a short host-facing usage hint, surfaced to MCP tool-search |
+| `coerceJsonArgs` | coerce JSON-stringified object/array arguments (default `true`) |
+| `flattenUnionInput` | advertise discriminated unions as one object (default `false`) |
+| `errorHint` | add a project-owned hint to failed tool results |
+| `onOutputStrip` | observe output keys removed by contract validation |
+| `protectedResource` | RFC 9728 metadata used by HTTP `401` responses |
+| `legacy` | `'serve'` (default) or `'reject'` for pre-2026 clients |
+| `security` | optional Host/Origin allowlists at the Fetch boundary |
+| `onTransportRejected` | observe HTTP/protocol rejections without entering lifecycle or tool hooks |
+| `cache` | explicit operation cache hints; omitted means zero/private |
+
+Direct `services` / `runtimeTools` factories, `context`, `selectSurface` and
+`rawTools` receive the resolved identity, so a tenant can be shown only its own
+tools and every handler can read `ctx.tenantId`.
+
+Use direct factories only when the definitions are genuinely arbitrary per
+identity. For a bounded role/plan set, declare a finite registry instead:
+
+```ts
+const handleMcp = createMcpHandler({
+  serverInfo,
+  auth,
+  surfaces: {
+    admin: { services: allServices, runtimeTools: [renderPreview] },
+    member: { services: memberServices, runtimeTools: [renderPreview] },
+  },
+  selectSurface: (identity) => identity.isAdmin ? 'admin' : 'member',
+  context: (identity) => ({ identity }),
+})
+```
+
+Every declared entry is schema-validated and prepared once when the handler is
+constructed. The selected immutable descriptors are shared; the SDK server,
+transport, auth-derived context, lifecycle runner and tool-call context are
+fresh for every request. Unknown keys
+fail before the server connects. The registry never retains auth values.
+
+### Stateless transport and protocol eras
+
+Every request gets a fresh SDK server, resolved auth/context and tool-call
+runner. Static direct and finite registry schemas are still prepared once when
+the handler is constructed. There is no session map, event store,
+`Mcp-Session-Id` or resumable cross-request SSE state. Process replacement and
+load balancing therefore cannot strand a client on an in-memory session.
+
+The default `legacy: 'serve'` lets the official SDK negotiate either modern
+`2026-07-28` or the supported legacy stateless opening on this same endpoint.
+Set `legacy: 'reject'` when every host is modern. Legacy support is protocol
+translation inside the SDK, not a second Stitchkit transport or compatibility
+API. Stateful MCP and subscriptions are intentionally outside this layer.
+
+`createMcpHttpRoute` is the framework-owned raw-route adapter. It registers
+`ALL` because Streamable HTTP uses multiple HTTP methods, delegates only to
+`handler.fetch`, and leaves lifecycle ownership with the returned handler.
+
+By default, a present `Host` header must match the request URL and a present
+browser `Origin` must be same-origin. Non-browser hosts may omit `Origin`. Behind
+a trusted reverse proxy, reconstruct the public request URL before calling the
+handler or configure exact `security.allowedHosts` / `allowedOrigins`; never
+copy arbitrary forwarded headers into the trusted URL. If a browser calls MCP
+cross-origin, its HTTP server or gateway must also answer CORS preflight and
+expose the protocol headers. `onTransportRejected` is the audit boundary for
+HTTP/security rejections; it is deliberately separate from tool lifecycle and
+must not be used as authorization input.
+
+### Modern discovery, routing and cache hints
+
+Stitchkit forwards the negotiated protocol era and validated MCP request data
+to both `RequestEvent.mcp` and the current managed call's typed `context.mcp`;
+untrusted routing headers never become application identity. The SDK validates
+`MCP-Protocol-Version`, JSON-RPC shape and routing
+metadata before lifecycle or tool handlers run. Framework-owned tool and
+resource registration preserves declaration order across HTTP and stdio. Tool
+manifests preserve mount order; `listToolNames` is a sorted diagnostics view.
+Consumer-owned raw SDK registrations are outside this guarantee.
+
+Caching is opt-in. `cache.operations` maps directly to SDK v2 operation cache
+hints, while each `McpResourceDef` may declare its own `cacheHint`. Omission
+means zero/private: neither a prepared surface nor a deterministic response is
+silently treated as public. Unbounded auth-selected surface factories are
+always forced to zero/private even when an operation policy is present; use a
+finite `surfaces` registry when identities share a provably immutable surface.
+Stitchkit never advertises list-change or subscription capabilities
+without an implementation.
+
+### Knowing your catalog is stale — the catalog stamp
+
+A client lists the tools once and keeps that list. If the server's contract
+moves afterwards, the client's copy is wrong and *nothing tells it so*: calls
+are refused, and from inside the client a refusal looks like a broken server.
+This is the most expensive shape a contract disagreement takes, because the
+party able to fix it is the one with no evidence.
+
+Every advertised tool and every tool result therefore carries the fingerprint of
+the catalog it came from:
+
+```ts
+import { readMcpCatalogStamp } from 'stitchkit/tools';
+
+const listed = await client.listTools();
+let known = readMcpCatalogStamp(listed.tools[0]?._meta); // { digest, tools }
+
+const result = await client.callTool({ name: 'record_journal', arguments });
+const live = readMcpCatalogStamp(result._meta);
+if (live && known && live.digest !== known.digest) {
+  // The catalog moved under us. Re-list before blaming the result.
+  known = readMcpCatalogStamp((await client.listTools()).tools[0]?._meta);
+}
+```
+
+The comparison costs nothing and runs on a response you were already receiving —
+including a refusal, which is exactly when a stale catalog is the likeliest
+explanation. `notifications/tools/list_changed` is the push-shaped answer to the
+same problem and `createMcpHandler` cannot send it: it is stateless by
+construction, so there is no retained session to push down.
+
+The digest covers each advertised tool's name, description, input schema, output
+schema and annotations, and nothing else — it moves when the contract moves and
+not when a handler does. Raw SDK registrations stay consumer-owned and are
+outside it.
+
+### Shaping arguments before validation — `beforeToolCall`
+
+`beforeToolCall` sees the arguments as they arrived and may **replace** them:
+
+```ts
+hooks: {
+  beforeToolCall: async ({ args }) =>
+    typeof args.id === 'string' && args.id.startsWith('@')
+      ? { ...args, id: await resolveReference(args.id) }
+      : undefined,       // undefined / null / nothing → unchanged
+}
+```
+
+The replacement is validated by the contract schema like any other input, so this
+shapes a call and never bypasses the schema — a hook returning something the
+contract refuses produces an ordinary `VALIDATION_ERROR`. It runs before the
+params/input split, before argument coercion and before both schemas, which is
+why a field declared `z.string()` can receive a reference and still be a string by
+the time it is checked. `lifecycle.beforeHandle` is too late for this: the schemas
+have already answered.
+
+The audit trail is unaffected. `afterToolCall` reports what the caller sent as
+`args` and the replacement separately as `effectiveArgs`, so a rewrite is visible
+as a rewrite rather than by overwriting the evidence.
+
+### Knowing the outcome of a call — `afterToolCall` and `toolCallId`
+
+`afterToolCall` receives the whole `ToolResult` — `{ok: true, data}` or
+`{ok: false, code, …}` — on every exit, including a validation failure that never
+reached the handler, and on all three transports. It is the answer to "did this
+call fail"; deriving that from the serialized error text instead is the mistake
+this section exists to prevent, and it is a mistake that does not announce itself:
+one consumer had five places asking the question and getting five answers.
+
+To correlate an outcome with the call the model made, read `context.toolCallId`:
+
+```ts
+hooks: {
+  afterToolCall: ({ context, result }) => {
+    loop.record(context.toolCallId, result.ok ? 'ok' : result.code);
+  },
+}
+```
+
+Two exits are deliberately **not** reported: a runtime tool presenter that throws
+on the agent surface (the AI SDK calls it after `execute` has already returned)
+and `ToolExecutionControlError`, which is a run being stopped rather than a tool
+failing — check it with `isToolExecutionControlError`.
+
+### Restartable tool bodies — `durability`
+
+A tool that starts slow work and must report exactly once, including after a host
+restart, can keep that bookkeeping **inside** the tool:
+
+```ts
+mountAgent(services, {
+  durability: (toolCallId, signal) => myLedgerFor(toolCallId, signal),
+});
+
+// in the handler
+const asset = await ctx.step('render', () => renderAsset(ctx.input));
+await ctx.waitFor({ event: 'render-done', id: assetId });
+```
+
+`ToolDurability` is the port a tool body sees — `step`, `sleep`, `waitFor`. You
+do not have to implement it: the engine ships from `stitchkit/tools`, and it needs
+a ledger of two methods over storage you already have:
+
+```ts
+import { createLocalStepDurability, type StepDurabilityLedger } from 'stitchkit/tools';
+
+const ledger: StepDurabilityLedger = {
+  appendEvent: (event) => db.durabilityEvents.insert(event),   // returns the row with `seq`
+  readEvents: ({ conversationId, fromSeq, toSeq }) => db.durabilityEvents.page(…),
+};
+
+mountAgent(services, {
+  durability: (toolCallId, signal) =>
+    createLocalStepDurability({ store: ledger, conversationId, runId: toolCallId, signal }),
+});
+```
+
+That gives replay, absolute deadlines and decode refusal without writing them.
+The port is there for an application that already has its own ledger engine.
+
+One thing the port deliberately leaves out: **delivery**. `waitFor` parks until
+`{ event, id }` arrives, and a tool body has no business delivering to itself —
+so `deliver` lives on the engine object you constructed, not in the handler
+context. Whatever produces the event (a webhook, a queue consumer, a cron) calls
+`engine.deliver({ event, id, payload })` against the same ledger; the parked
+`waitFor` resolves, and a `waitFor` that starts after the delivery returns at
+once. Taking `agent-runtime` is not required and nothing of the runtime proper
+enters the `stitchkit/tools` graph. An application that *does* run on
+`agent-runtime` gets durability through the run context and needs no option;
+where both exist the runtime's wins, because the run is recorded in its ledger.
+
+### Typed MCP call metadata
+
+Contract handlers, runtime-tool handlers/factories, lifecycle and tool hooks all
+see the same optional `McpCallContext` for the current invocation:
+
+```ts
+const sourceLabel = context.mcp?.clientInfo?.name ?? context.source
+
+context.mcp?.era             // 'modern' | 'legacy'
+context.mcp?.method          // validated MCP method
+context.mcp?.toolName        // resolved framework tool name
+context.mcp?.protocolVersion // when supplied by a modern host
+context.mcp?.clientInfo      // { name, version } when validated
+context.mcp?.outcome         // multi-round attempt outcome
+context.mcp?.round           // multi-round attempt number
+```
+
+The field is absent on HTTP, Agent, CLI and bring-your-own transports. A legacy
+MCP call exposes `era: 'legacy'` but does not invent modern client information.
+`clientInfo` is the host's self-description: use it for labels or analytics,
+never for authentication, RBAC, tenant selection or rate limiting. Verified
+identity still comes from `auth`; the `context(auth)` callback remains the
+application-context factory and receives no protocol metadata.
+
+### Telling the host what a long call is doing — `ctx.reportProgress`
+
+A tool that takes ten minutes tells a text host nothing: the call is made, and
+the next thing the host shows is the answer. The protocol has a channel for
+this — the host sends a `progressToken` with the call, the server relates
+progress notifications to it — and a handler reaches it through
+`ctx.reportProgress`:
+
+```ts
+render: async (ctx) => {
+  await ctx.reportProgress?.({ message: 'queued' })
+  const job = await jobs.start(ctx.input)
+  await ctx.reportProgress?.({ message: 'rendering', progress: 1, total: 3 })
+  return await jobs.finish(job)
+}
+```
+
+`reportProgress` is present on every **tool** call — MCP, agent and CLI — so a
+handler never branches on transport, and it does nothing wherever nobody is
+listening. It is absent on the HTTP transport, which has no channel for it, so a
+handler that also serves HTTP writes `ctx.reportProgress?.(…)`. It never throws and never
+rejects: a message about work must not be able to kill the work it describes, so
+a refused notification leaves the host exactly where a host that never asked for
+progress already is.
+
+`progress` is a number the protocol requires and a handler often does not have —
+there is a stage to name and no scale to name it on. Omit it and the ordinal of
+the update is sent, with no `total`, so the host shows a counter rather than a
+bar stuck at 3%. That is a fact about what happened; a synthesised percentage
+would be a claim nobody measured.
+
+The framework sends nothing on its own. Progress is meaningful only where an
+operation has observable stages, and manufacturing one per call would be
+inventing a second transport beside the one the protocol already provides. The
+one exception is the managed wait tool (`mountWait`), which already polls and
+therefore already knows: when the host asked for progress it reports each poll
+and the phase it last saw, which is the tool whose silence raised the question
+in the first place.
+
+The token itself is on `ctx.mcp.progressToken` when a caller wants to know
+whether anyone is listening.
+
+### Multi-round tool input (`input_required`)
+
+An MCP-only operation can require typed user input before its final side effect:
+
+```ts
+const DeleteConfirmationSchema = z.object({ confirmed: z.boolean() })
+
+deleteProject: {
+  method: 'DELETE',
+  path: '/projects/:id',
+  expose: ['MCP'],
+  input: DeleteProjectSchema,
+  output: DeleteProjectResultSchema,
+  tool: {
+    mcp: {
+      inputRequired: [
+        {
+          key: 'confirmation',
+          schema: DeleteConfirmationSchema,
+          message: 'Confirm permanent deletion',
+        },
+        {
+          key: 'reason',
+          schema: z.object({ value: z.string().min(3) }),
+          message: 'Record the reason',
+        },
+      ],
+    },
+  },
+}
+```
+
+Each continuation accepts exactly the currently requested item. Only after the
+ordered sequence completes does the handler receive the exact aggregate as
+`ctx.mcpInput.confirmation` and `ctx.mcpInput.reason`; before then the framework
+returns `input_required` without calling it. Set
+`multiRound.serving.maxRounds` to the maximum declaration size you accept
+(default `10`); empty sequences, duplicate keys and overflow fail first. State
+is bound to principal, full operation identity, current round, accepted
+aggregate and canonical original-argument digest and is
+expiry-checked. Tampered, expired, cross-user or cross-tool state fails before
+the side effect. Output validation applies only to the final result.
+
+Every attempt re-runs auth/lifecycle and emits its own tool hooks; audit metadata
+contains the attempt's `mcp.outcome` and `mcp.round`. Stitchkit does not merge
+separate HTTP attempts into one logical trace. Parallel
+rounds have isolated context. HTTP/stdio modern hosts and the supported legacy
+stdio bridge may use this declaration; Agent, CLI and ordinary HTTP invocation
+remain single-round and unchanged. Hosts without the capability receive an
+ordinary unsupported result rather than a falsely advertised round. Signed
+state is tamper-resistant, not an exactly-once replay store; destructive
+handlers must still be idempotent where retries matter.
+
+#### Questions chosen from the arguments
+
+The list above is fixed when the contract is written, which is right when the
+questions belong to the operation. It is not enough when they belong to the
+**arguments** — one model takes `aspect_ratio`, another `duration`, a third an
+input image — and there a declared list can only be empty. `inputRequired` also
+accepts a function of the parsed call:
+
+```ts
+tool: {
+  mcp: {
+    inputRequired: async ({ input }) => {
+      const model = await catalog.get(input.model)
+      return model.needsRatio
+        ? [{ key: 'ratio', schema: RatioSchema, message: 'Which aspect ratio?' }]
+        : []
+    },
+  },
+}
+```
+
+It receives the same `params` / `input` the handler receives — parsed, so
+defaults and coercions are already applied. Returning an empty array means this
+call needs nothing and runs straight through. Everything else is unchanged: the
+state is still signed and bound to principal, operation and argument digest, the
+rounds are still counted against `maxRounds`, and a resolved list with duplicate
+keys or more rounds than allowed is refused.
+
+**The plan is fingerprinted, and that matters more than it looks.** Between two
+rounds there is a full round trip to the host, and a resolver that reads
+anything outside its arguments — a model catalog, a feature flag — can answer
+differently the second time. Every other check would still pass: same principal,
+same operation, same arguments, round still in range. Round 2's question would
+be asked under round 1's key, and if the schemas happened to be compatible the
+user's answer would be accepted for a question nobody asked. So the resolved
+list is fingerprinted into the signed state and re-checked every round; a plan
+that moved is refused, not asked. A resolver that reads only its arguments never
+sees this.
+
+**What a dynamic declaration costs.** One extra pass through the contract
+pipeline per round — `lifecycle.beforeHandle` runs once more and one more
+`toolPhase: 'input-round'` audit row is written. That is the price of ordering:
+the resolver is your code and may reach a network, so it runs **after**
+authorisation, never before, and the only thing that can authorise is a pipeline
+pass. Resolving itself is free — the arguments are parsed by the same pure
+function the call parses with, not by a second run of anything. A fixed list
+pays none of this; its call sequence is unchanged.
+
+One thing does change for a fixed list: the signed round state now carries a
+fingerprint of the question plan, and it is checked on every round. A
+conversation already in flight when you deploy this has no fingerprint in its
+state and is refused once with `INVALID_REQUEST_STATE`; the host re-asks and the
+retry succeeds.
+
+### Guarding tools — `lifecycle`
+
+A tool call runs the same handler an HTTP request would. `lifecycle` makes it
+run the same gate: a `beforeHandle` (throw to reject) and an `afterHandle`
+(transform the result). Pass the **same**
+[`createAuthHook`](./auth-and-errors.md#createauthhook) result used as the HTTP
+server's `authorize` hook and tool calls are scope-checked by identical rules:
+
+```ts
+createMcpHandler({ serverInfo, auth, services, lifecycle: { beforeHandle: authHook } })
+```
+
+Without it, a tool call bypasses the HTTP `authorize` gate — the contract's
+`scope` is not enforced on the MCP / agent surface. `mountMcp`, `mountAgent` and
+`buildMcpServer` take `lifecycle` too.
+
+The observability `hooks` are symmetric with the HTTP side too: `beforeToolCall`
+and `afterToolCall` receive the resolved **`MethodDef`** as `endpoint` —
+the tool-side twin of `afterHandle(ctx, result, endpoint)`. Read
+`endpoint.serviceName` / `.key` / `.meta` directly for an audit row; you do not
+need to rebuild a `toolName → identity` map:
+
+```ts
+hooks: {
+  afterToolCall: ({ result, durationMs, endpoint }) => {
+    audit({
+      service: endpoint.serviceName,
+      action: endpoint.key,
+      ok: result.ok,
+      ms: durationMs,
+    })
+  },
+}
+```
+
+> **Tool-path identity.** A tool call has no `req`, so `createAuthHook` resolves
+> identity through `resolveFromContext`, not `resolve`. Set it (read the
+> identity your `auth` / `context` injected) — without it a scoped tool call
+> has no identity and **fails closed**. See
+> [Auth on the tool surface](./auth-and-errors.md#auth-on-the-tool-surface--resolvefromcontext).
+
+### MCP schema validation profile
+
+A contract schema that JSON Schema cannot represent (a `z.date()`, a `z.map()`)
+cannot become a tool. `schemaValidation.policy` decides what happens:
+
+- `'throw'` (default) — fail the build, listing every offending tool. A static
+  `services` array is checked when `createMcpHandler` is constructed, so a bad
+  schema fails the deploy, not the first request. Better than a tool that
+  silently vanishes from the surface.
+- `'warn'` — log through `logger` and drop the tool.
+- `'skip'` — drop the tool silently.
+
+`validateMcpSchemas({ services })` runs the same check on its own — useful in a
+startup assertion or a test.
+
+For a static `services` array, collection, schema conversion and every enabled
+validation guard run once when the handler is created. Each HTTP request still
+receives a fresh `McpServer`, runner, context and native registration over that
+immutable prepared surface. A `services(auth)` factory
+is deliberately prepared after resolving each identity because its tool set may
+change by tenant.
+
+#### Is every property actually usable by a model?
+
+A tool schema is the only instruction a model gets about the shape of its
+arguments. A property that carries a `description` and no `type` / `enum` /
+`anyOf` / `$ref` tells it nothing — and nothing fails: the schema converts, the
+mount succeeds, the tool is advertised, and the model then guesses, retrying the
+same wrong guess because the error does not say what the right one would be.
+
+```ts
+validateMcpSchemas({
+  services,
+  policy: 'throw',
+  logger,
+  extend,
+  flattenUnionInput: true,
+  requireTypedProperties: true,
+  requirePortableFormats: true,
+  allowFormats: [],
+})
+```
+
+For an arbitrary **JSON value**, declare `z.json()`: its recursive JSON Schema
+describes strings, numbers, booleans, null, arrays and objects, so strict schema
+validation needs no exception. `z.unknown()` means an unknown runtime value —
+including values JSON cannot represent — and therefore gives a model no usable
+shape. The guard is off by default for existing contracts. `allowUntyped` takes
+dotted `tool.property` paths and is reserved for a presentation value that is
+genuinely impossible to represent as JSON Schema. On `createMcpHandler`, put the policy under
+`schemaValidation`; the handler supplies its real `extend` and
+`flattenUnionInput`, so the check cannot vet a different document from the one
+advertised.
+
+`requirePortableFormats` rejects custom `format` values common MCP/AJV clients
+do not know, such as the `cuid2` emitted by `z.cuid2()`. Use a portable
+schema/pattern, or list it in `allowFormats` only when every client supports it.
+stitchkit never removes or rewrites the keyword.
+
+`findUntypedProperties(jsonSchema)` is the same walk, exported on its own if you
+want to assert on a schema you built elsewhere.
+
+### Discriminated unions for weaker models — `flattenUnionInput`
+
+A discriminated union in a tool's input becomes a JSON Schema `oneOf` / `anyOf`.
+Capable models (Claude, Gemini, GPT) handle that; weaker / cheaper ones can drop
+the field or mangle its strings. Set `flattenUnionInput: true` (on
+`createMcpHandler` / `mountMcp` / `mountAgent`) to advertise each discriminated
+union as a **single flat object** instead — the discriminator becomes an enum and
+each variant's fields become optional with a `Required if <disc> = …` hint.
+
+**A field several variants declare keeps its type.** Flattening puts every
+variant's fields side by side, so a key two variants share has to be advertised
+as one thing. Where they agree, that is what you get; where they disagree — a
+`.refine()` only one of them carries, two different bounds on the same number, an
+enum against a free string — the *constraint* is dropped and the **type** is not.
+A field that is a number in every variant is advertised as a number, not as a
+bare description. When the kinds genuinely differ, the flat projection keeps
+every provable kind in a deterministic JSON Schema type array — for example
+`type: ['string', 'array']` — while dropping constraints that are not sound for
+all branches. Nested `oneOf` / `anyOf` values still contribute their provable
+base kinds without reintroducing union keywords. Only a branch whose kind is
+actually unknowable, such as a free-form schema or unresolved reference, leaves
+the collision unconstrained. → ADRs [0044](../decisions/0044-a-collided-field-keeps-its-type.md)
+and [0065](../decisions/0065-flat-collisions-preserve-every-known-kind.md)
+
+It is **deep** because the projection walks the generated JSON Schema document,
+including objects, arrays, tuples and schema-definition nodes. Structurally
+identifiable discriminated object unions are flattened wherever they occur.
+Plain unions and unions hidden behind unresolved external references remain
+unions because Stitchkit cannot soundly invent a discriminator.
+
+Use the default `flattenUnionInput: false` when the model must see the exact
+relationship between a discriminator and each branch. The flat type array is a
+sound set of possible JSON kinds, not a reconstruction of those correlations.
+
+The flattened form is **lossy but never executable**. Per-variant refinements
+and incompatible constraints are widened in the presentation document; the
+original Zod contract enforces them exactly once inside `executeToolMethod`.
+MCP and AI adapters forward the raw argument object unchanged, so defaults,
+coercions and transforms cannot run before Stitchkit. Strict violations return
+the normal `VALIDATION_ERROR` tool envelope and fire `beforeToolCall` /
+`afterToolCall`. → [ADR 0050](../decisions/0050-presentation-schema-is-not-a-parser.md).
+
+## `mountMcp`
+
+If you already run an `McpServer` from the SDK, `mountMcp` adds contract tools
+to it instead of owning the lifecycle:
+
+```ts
+import { mountMcp } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+
+mountMcp(mcpServer, [usersService], { context: { source: 'mcp' } })
+```
+
+`createMcpHandler` is the batteries-included path; `mountMcp` is the building
+block under it.
+
+## MCP over stdio — `createStdioMcpServer`
+
+`createMcpHandler` serves MCP over HTTP. `createStdioMcpServer` serves the same
+contract tools over **stdio** — the server runs as a subprocess of the MCP
+client (Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Cursor, Codex), on the user's machine, so
+it can reach the local filesystem.
+
+```ts
+import { bindStdioProcessSignals, createStdioMcpServer } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+
+const stdio = await createStdioMcpServer({
+  serverInfo: { name: 'my-app', version: '1.0.0' },
+  auth: resolveIdentity(),          // resolved once at startup, not per request
+  services: [usersService],
+})
+
+const signals = bindStdioProcessSignals(stdio, {
+  onClose: () => stopWorkers(),
+  onComplete: () => { process.exitCode = 0 },
+  onError: (_phase, error) => {
+    console.error(error) // stderr only — stdout is JSON-RPC
+    process.exitCode = 1
+  },
+})
+
+await signals.promise
+```
+
+A stdio server is a single process serving one client, so `auth` is a value (or
+a promise of one) resolved once at startup — typically from an env var — rather
+than a per-request `(req) => …`. Keep all logging on **stderr**: stdout is the
+JSON-RPC channel.
+
+The default `legacy: 'serve'` negotiates the modern or supported legacy opening
+through the official stdio adapter. Use `legacy: 'reject'` for a modern-only
+binary. Each invocation builds a fresh server; the returned handle owns
+transport shutdown.
+
+Signal binding is explicit: `createStdioMcpServer` installs no global process
+listeners by itself. The first `SIGINT`/`SIGTERM` starts exactly one official
+`close()` chain. Stdio has no force primitive, so a later signal restores the
+OS default disposition instead of reporting a fictional forced result.
+`signals.close()` removes an idle binding; the framework never calls
+`process.exit()` or chooses the exit code. See
+[deployment lifecycle](./testing-and-deployment.md#stdio-process-signals).
+
+Both transports build the server through the shared `buildMcpServer` — same
+contract/runtime pipeline, same surface selection, context, hooks, raw escape
+hatch and instructions.
+
+## OAuth 2.1 — a native remote connector
+
+A remote MCP server is connectable from Claude (Desktop / web "custom
+connector") only through the MCP authorization spec: OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, plus
+the discovery documents (RFC 9728 / 8414), Client ID Metadata Documents (CIMD)
+and resource indicators (RFC 8707). A Bearer-only server returns a
+bare `401` and the connector never establishes.
+
+stitchkit ships the OAuth **protocol mechanics**; the app supplies only
+**identity and storage**. Three pieces wire it together:
+
+```ts
+import { createMcpHandler, createMcpHttpRoute, mountOAuthProvider, oauthProtectedResourceRoute } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+import { createServer } from 'stitchkit/server'
+
+const resource = 'https://api.example.com/mcp'
+const issuer = 'https://api.example.com'
+
+// 1. Resource server — the 401 now points at the metadata.
+const mcp = createMcpHandler({
+  serverInfo: { name: 'my-app', version: '1.0.0' },
+  auth: resolveOAuthToken,        // validate the Bearer JWT (verifyJwt + audience)
+  services,
+  protectedResource: { resource, authorizationServers: [issuer] },
+})
+
+// 2. Authorization server — CIMD, /authorize (PKCE), /token.
+const oauthRoutes = mountOAuthProvider({
+  issuer,
+  resource,
+  signingSecret: env.OAUTH_SECRET,
+  clientRegistration: {
+    preRegistered: { get: getFirstPartyClient },
+    // CIMD is enabled with secure defaults; DCR remains disabled.
+  },
+  codes, refreshTokens,           // your stores (DB or in-memory)
+  authorizeUser,                  // → { userId, approvedScopes } | Response
+})
+
+createServer({
+  services,
+  rawRoutes: [
+    createMcpHttpRoute({ path: '/mcp', handler: mcp }),
+    oauthProtectedResourceRoute({ resource, authorizationServers: [issuer] }),
+    ...oauthRoutes,
+  ],
+})
+```
+
+Access tokens are signed HS256 JWTs (`signJwt`) whose `aud` is the resource and
+whose `iss` is the issuer — validate both in `auth` with
+`verifyJwt(token, secret, { audience: resource, issuer })`. `authorizeUser` is
+where the app authenticates the user (reuse an existing session) and records
+consent; return `{ userId, approvedScopes }`, where approved scopes are a subset
+of the requested/supported values, or a `Response` to redirect the browser to a
+login page first. The AS and resource server can co-locate or live
+on separate origins. See
+[ADR 0015](../decisions/0015-oauth-resource-server.md).
+
+Client resolution is deterministic: exact pre-registered client, then an HTTPS
+URL client id resolved as CIMD, then explicitly enabled DCR. CIMD is on by
+default; DCR is off unless `clientRegistration.dcr` supplies both `register` and
+`get`. A CIMD-only deployment therefore exposes neither `/register` nor a
+`registration_endpoint`. The metadata document must declare a `client_id` that
+exactly equals its URL, explicit redirect URIs and
+`token_endpoint_auth_method: 'none'`.
+
+The production fetcher rejects credentials, fragments, non-HTTPS URLs and
+private/reserved targets. Every redirect is DNS-resolved and IP-pinned again;
+timeouts, redirect count and body size are bounded. Its bounded cache respects
+`Cache-Control` (including `no-store`/`no-cache`), `Age`, `Expires`, `ETag` and
+`Last-Modified`, coalesces concurrent misses and reports sanitized cache events;
+invalid or unavailable identity receives only a short fail-closed cache entry.
+
+Resolution itself is rate-limited on two levels (`CimdCachePolicy`):
+`maxResolutionsPerClient` (default 10) bounds ONE `client_id` per
+`resolutionWindowMs` window (default 60 s) — a client whose document disables
+caching burns its own budget, not the server's — while `maxResolutions`
+(default 120) caps the server-wide outbound rate as the flood backstop.
+Positive and negative cache entries keep separate pools of `maxEntries` each,
+so a flood of unresolvable ids cannot evict warmed clients and a burst of
+successes cannot reset a failing client's backoff.
+
+### Authorization hardening (MCP 2026-07-28)
+
+- **`iss` on every authorization response (RFC 9207, SEP-2468).** Success *and*
+  error redirects carry `iss`, and the AS metadata advertises
+  `authorization_response_iss_parameter_supported: true`. A client that talks to
+  several authorization servers validates `iss` before redeeming the code, which
+  closes the **mix-up attack** — an attacker's server cannot pass its response
+  off as this issuer's. Additive on the wire: a client that ignores `iss` is
+  unaffected.
+- **`application_type` on registration (SEP-837).** A client may declare
+  `"native"` (desktop / CLI) or `"web"` in its DCR body. A **native** client may
+  register an `http` loopback redirect (`http://127.0.0.1:…`, RFC 8252 §7.3); a
+  **web** client is held to `https` only — that mismatch is the usual cause of
+  the `redirect_uri` rejection CLI clients hit. Omit the field and registration
+  behaves exactly as before (loopback allowed); an unknown value is rejected
+  rather than silently defaulted.
+
+> Dynamic Client Registration is an explicit interoperability mode, not the
+> default. Enabling it changes public discovery and adds `/register`; keep it off
+> unless a client that cannot publish CIMD requires it.
+
+## Proxying a remote API — `implementRemote`
+
+`implement` binds a contract to local handlers. `implementRemote` binds it to a
+remote HTTP API instead — every handler forwards the call to a deployed server
+through the contract's typed client:
+
+```ts
+import { createHttpClient } from 'stitchkit'
+import { implementRemote } from 'stitchkit/remote'
+import { createStdioMcpServer } from 'stitchkit/tools'
+
+const http = createHttpClient({
+  baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com',
+  headers: () => ({ Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}` }),
+})
+
+const stdio = await createStdioMcpServer({
+  serverInfo: { name: 'my-app', version: '1.0.0' },
+  auth: null,
+  services: contracts.map((c) => implementRemote(c, http)),
+})
+
+// During graceful shutdown:
+await stdio.close()
+```
+
+This is how you ship a thin **local** MCP server for an API that already runs in
+the cloud: the local process owns only the transport and any filesystem-facing
+native tools, while every contract tool proxies to the remote API. One contract,
+no duplicated business logic.
+
+`implementRemote(contract, http, { transformArgs })` takes an optional
+`transformArgs` hook that rewrites a call's arguments before they are forwarded
+— e.g. to upload a local file referenced in the args and swap in its URL.
+
+## Structured output
+
+When a contract endpoint or runtime tool declares `output`, its MCP tool
+registers that exact schema as `outputSchema` and returns the validated value as
+`structuredContent` alongside a JSON text block. Every JSON root type is kept
+unchanged: object, array, string, number, boolean and `null`. Stitchkit does not
+wrap non-object values in `{ result }`; protocol-era adaptation belongs to the
+official SDK.
+
+A tool without an output contract advertises no `outputSchema` and returns no
+invented structured value. Its successful MCP result has an empty `content`
+list.
+
+## A different answer for tools — `withToolView`
+
+An admin page wants the full record; a model wants a card. Every byte of a
+tool result enters the model's context and stays in its history, and personal
+fields a task does not need are better never shown to it. Two endpoints on one
+path (one `expose: ['HTTP']`, one for the tools) duplicate the description, the
+schemas and the handler; branching on `ctx.source` teaches every handler about
+transports and still advertises the full output schema.
+
+A **tool view** declares the difference on the endpoint instead:
+
+```ts
+import { defineContract, withToolView } from 'stitchkit';
+
+export const users = defineContract({ prefix: 'users' }, {
+  list: withToolView(
+    {
+      method: 'GET', path: '/', desc: 'List users', tool: { name: 'user_list' },
+      input: UserListQuery,        // include: z.array(...).default(['profile', 'stats'])
+      output: UserListResponse,    // HTTP, OpenAPI and the typed client — unchanged
+    },
+    {
+      defaults: { include: [] },                          // what a tool call gets when it passes nothing
+      output: UserCardList,                               // the tool answer and its schema
+      project: (full, { input }) => ({ items: full.items.map(toCard) }),  // optional: without it, `output` slices
+    },
+  ),
+});
+```
+
+- **One handler, one parser.** `defaults` joins the tool call's arguments
+  *before* the endpoint's own `input` parses them, so the handler receives an
+  ordinary `input` — `include: []` from a tool, the HTTP default from HTTP — and
+  loads only what was asked for. An explicit argument wins over the default.
+- **The answer is derived, then checked.** The handler's result is validated
+  against the full `output` first, as always; then `project` (a pure,
+  synchronous function of the full result and the parsed input) or a slice by
+  the view's `output`, then validation against the view's schema. A projection
+  that throws, returns a Promise or breaks its schema is `INTERNAL_SERVER_ERROR`
+  — a server fault, like any output mismatch.
+- **Where it applies.** The MCP, agent and CLI mounts answer with the view;
+  `outputSchema`, `structuredContent`, the advertised input `default`, the
+  catalog stamp and the surface snapshot follow it. HTTP, OpenAPI, the typed
+  client and the in-process [`createToolInvoker`](#in-process-calls--createtoolinvoker)
+  keep the full answer — code, not a model, is calling there.
+- **Three forms, one helper.** With `output` and `project` the answer has its
+  own schema. With `project` alone it reshapes values inside the full schema.
+  With `output` alone it is a slice, and the full result must fit that schema —
+  `withToolView` refuses the endpoint at compile time when it does not.
+- **Exposure.** A view needs a tool transport. With `createContractFactory({
+  toolExposure: 'explicit' })` an endpoint without `expose` is HTTP-only, so an
+  endpoint with a view names its tool transports in `expose`.
+- **What it refuses.** `defineContract` rejects a view on an endpoint with no
+  tool transport or no full `output`, on a raw, `rawBody`, multipart,
+  `responseMeta` or streaming endpoint, a view that declares neither `output`
+  nor `project`, and a default for a key the input does not have, for a path
+  param, or with a value the input would reject.
+
+A projection adds nothing the full result does not carry: a field the tool
+answer needs belongs in the full answer, loaded by the handler. Keys a
+projection returns beyond its schema are reported by `onOutputStrip`; a slice
+removes keys on purpose and is not reported. → [ADR 0196](../decisions/0196-a-tool-answer-is-a-declared-view.md)