fix(mcp): acknowledge every JSON-RPC notification instead of answering 400

packages/mcp-core/src/mcp-guards/mcp-notification-ack.spec.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,87 @@
+import { describe, it, expect } from 'vitest';
+import { readFileSync } from 'node:fs';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+import path from 'node:path';
+
+/**
+ * Every JSON-RPC notification is acknowledged, never answered MethodNotFound.
+ *
+ * A JSON-RPC 2.0 notification (a message with no `id`) gets no response body,
+ * and MCP's HTTP transport accepts one with an empty 2xx. MCP clients send
+ * `notifications/cancelled` whenever they abandon a request, and may send
+ * `notifications/progress` or `notifications/roots/list_changed`. `handleMcp`
+ * used to acknowledge only `notifications/initialized`, so every other
+ * notification fell through to the unknown-method branch: HTTP 400, JSON-RPC
+ * -32601, and `error.type=MethodNotFound` on the request span.
+ *
+ * Measured 2026-10-12→19 in production: 749 `notifications/cancelled` requests
+ * answered 400 `MethodNotFound`, 10.7% of all MCP requests — an error rate the
+ * clients did nothing to earn.
+ *
+ * Scans the Deno handler, which vitest cannot import — the same approach as
+ * `mcp-method-guard-ordering.spec.ts` and `mcp-authz-status.spec.ts`.
+ */
+
+const here = path.dirname(fileURLToPath(import.meta.url));
+const handler = readFileSync(
+  path.resolve(here, '../../../../supabase/functions/mcp/mcp-handler.ts'),
+  'utf8',
+);
+
+const ACK = "startsWith('notifications/')";
+const FALLTHROUGH = 'MethodNotFound: ${method}';
+
+/** The acknowledgement branch: from the prefix test to the end of its block. */
+function ackBlock(): string {
+  const start = handler.indexOf(ACK);
+  expect(start, `no \`${ACK}\` branch in handleMcp`).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+  const end = handler.indexOf('\n  }', start);
+  expect(end).toBeGreaterThan(start);
+  return handler.slice(start, end);
+}
+
+describe('handleMcp acknowledges every JSON-RPC notification', () => {
+  it('acknowledges by the notifications/ PREFIX, not one exact method name', () => {
+    // An exact match on `notifications/initialized` is the defect: it leaves
+    // `notifications/cancelled` and every other notification to the fallthrough.
+    expect(handler).toMatch(/method\??\.startsWith\('notifications\/'\)/);
+    expect(handler).not.toMatch(/method === 'notifications\/initialized'/);
+  });
+
+  it('guards the prefix test with typeof, so a non-string method cannot throw', () => {
+    // `method` is unchecked JSON. Optional chaining only skips null/undefined,
+    // so `method?.startsWith(...)` throws a TypeError for `42` or `{}` and turns
+    // a client error into a 500. The CLI stdio server guards the same check.
+    expect(handler).toMatch(/typeof method === 'string' && method\.startsWith\('notifications\/'\)/);
+  });
+
+  it('answers a notification with an empty 2xx, not a JSON-RPC body', () => {
+    expect(ackBlock()).toMatch(/return new Response\(null, \{ status: 204 \}\);/);
+  });
+
+  it('does not mark the span as an error for a notification', () => {
+    // A notification is handled correctly by being acknowledged. Recording
+    // `error.type` here would keep inflating the MCP error rate.
+    const block = ackBlock();
+    expect(block).not.toMatch(/clientError\(/);
+    expect(block).not.toMatch(/\.error\(/);
+    expect(block).not.toMatch(/jsonrpcError\(/);
+  });
+
+  it('is decided before the unknown-method fallthrough, so notifications/cancelled cannot reach it', () => {
+    const ackIdx = handler.indexOf(ACK);
+    const fallthroughIdx = handler.indexOf(FALLTHROUGH);
+    expect(ackIdx).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(fallthroughIdx, 'MethodNotFound fallthrough not found').toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    expect(ackIdx).toBeLessThan(fallthroughIdx);
+  });
+
+  it('still answers a non-notification unknown method with MethodNotFound (-32601)', () => {
+    // `resources/list`, `server/discover` and friends are requests the server
+    // does not implement — they must keep their error.
+    const fallthroughIdx = handler.indexOf(FALLTHROUGH);
+    expect(fallthroughIdx).toBeGreaterThan(-1);
+    const tail = handler.slice(fallthroughIdx);
+    expect(tail).toMatch(/return jsonrpcError\(id, -32601, `Method not found: \$\{method\}`\);/);
+  });
+});

scripts/smoke/smoke-mcp-tools.mjs

@@ -457,6 +457,20 @@ check('an unknown method is -32601', async () => {
   eq(json.error?.code, -32601, 'error code');
 });
 
+check('a notification other than initialized is acknowledged with an empty 2xx', async () => {
+  // A JSON-RPC notification carries no `id` and gets no response body. Clients
+  // send `notifications/cancelled` whenever they abandon a request; it used to
+  // fall through to the unknown-method branch and answer 400 / -32601.
+  const { status, json } = await rpc({
+    jsonrpc: '2.0',
+    method: 'notifications/cancelled',
+    params: { requestId: rpcId, reason: 'smoke' },
+  });
+  ok(status >= 200 && status < 300, `http status: expected 2xx, got ${status}`);
+  // `rpc` keeps an unparseable body under `_unparsed`, so an empty body is ''.
+  eq(json?._unparsed, '', 'response body');
+});
+
 check('an unknown tool is -32601', async () => {
   const r = await call('memory.frobnicate');
   eq(r.error?.code, -32601, 'error code');

supabase/functions/mcp/mcp-handler.ts

@@ -123,7 +123,16 @@ export async function handleMcp(req: Request, auth: AuthContext, span: Span, ada
     });
   }
 
-  if (method === 'notifications/initialized') {
+  // Every JSON-RPC notification (no `id`, no response body) is acknowledged —
+  // `notifications/initialized`, and the `notifications/cancelled` a client
+  // sends whenever it abandons a request. Matching only `initialized` sent
+  // every other one to the MethodNotFound fallthrough below (HTTP 400). Not a
+  // span error: the request was handled correctly. 204 is what `initialized`
+  // has always answered; pinned by `mcp-notification-ack.spec.ts`.
+  // `method` is unchecked JSON: the `typeof` guard keeps a non-string value
+  // (`42`, `{}`) on the MethodNotFound path instead of throwing a TypeError
+  // (500), the same guard the CLI stdio server uses.
+  if (typeof method === 'string' && method.startsWith('notifications/')) {
     return new Response(null, { status: 204 });
   }