## Why
MCP servers can provide `instructions` that explain what their tools are
for. Directly exposed MCP namespaces already use those instructions when
a connector description is not available, but deferred `tool_search`
results did not preserve that fallback. The direct path falls back from
connector metadata to server instructions, while the deferred path only
carried `connector_description` and otherwise fell back to generic
namespace text.
That meant a plain MCP server could provide useful model-facing guidance
and still appear as `Tools in the X namespace.` whenever it was
discovered lazily through `tool_search`.
## What changed
- Store one model-facing `namespace_description` on `ToolInfo`, using
connector descriptions for connector-backed tools and server
instructions for plain MCP servers.
- Thread that namespace description through the `tool_search` source
list, search indexing, and returned namespace metadata.
- Add an end-to-end regression test for deferred non-app MCP search
results exposing server instructions as the namespace description.
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-tools
search_tool_description_lists_each_mcp_source_once --lib`
- `cargo test -p codex-core --test all
tool_search_uses_non_app_mcp_server_instructions_as_namespace_description`
# Why
Codex currently negotiates MCP `2025-06-18`, where the client
elicitation capability is represented as an empty object. We were still
serializing `capabilities.elicitation.form`, which belongs to the later
capability shape and can cause strict `2025-06-18` servers to reject
`initialize` with an unrecognized-field error.
This keeps the handshake aligned with the protocol version Codex
actually negotiates and fixes the compatibility regression tracked in
#17492.
# What
- Serialize the client elicitation capability as `elicitation: {}` for
`2025-06-18`.
- Keep elicitation advertised for both Codex Apps and custom MCP
servers.
- Tighten regression coverage so the unit test asserts both the Rust
value and the serialized wire shape.
- Add an app-server integration test that round-trips a form elicitation
from a custom MCP server; the existing connector round-trip continues to
cover the connector path.
# Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-mcp`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server mcp_server_elicitation_round_trip`
- `cargo test -p codex-app-server
mcp_server_tool_call_round_trips_elicitation`
# Next steps
- Decide whether `tool_call_mcp_elicitation=false` should also suppress
capability advertisement during `initialize`.
- Revisit `form` / `url` capability advertisement when Codex is ready to
negotiate MCP `2025-11-25`, which defines that newer shape.
## Why
Several bug reports describe thread shutdown (including subagent
threads) leaving stdio MCP server processes behind. These reports all
point at the same lifecycle gap: Codex launches stdio MCP servers, but
the session-level shutdown path does not explicitly close MCP clients or
terminate the server process tree.
Fixes#12491Fixes#12976Fixes#18881Fixes#19469
## History
This is best understood as a regression/coverage gap in MCP session
lifecycle management, not as stdio MCP cleanup being absent all along.
#10710 added process-group cleanup for stdio MCP servers, but that
cleanup only runs when the `RmcpClient`/transport is dropped. The older
reports (#12491 and #12976) came after that cleanup existed, which
suggests the remaining problem was that some higher-level shutdown paths
kept the MCP manager alive or replaced it without explicitly draining
clients. The newer reports (#18881 and #19469) exposed the same family
around manager replacement and shutdown.
## What changed
- Added an explicit stdio MCP process handle in `codex-rmcp-client` so
local MCP servers terminate their process group and executor-backed MCP
servers call the executor process terminator.
- Added `RmcpClient::shutdown()` and manager-level MCP shutdown draining
so session shutdown, channel-close fallback, MCP refresh, and connector
probing stop owned MCP clients.
- Added regression coverage that starts a stdio MCP server, begins an
in-flight blocking tool call, shuts down the client, and asserts the
server process exits.
## Verification
- `cargo test -p codex-rmcp-client`
- `cargo test -p codex-mcp`
- `just fix -p codex-rmcp-client`
- `just fix -p codex-mcp`
- `just fix -p codex-core`
- Manual before/after validation with a temporary repro script:
- Pre-fix binary from `HEAD^` (`fed0a8f4fa`): reproduced the leak with
surviving MCP server and child PIDs, `survivors=[77583, 77592]`,
`leaked=true`.
- Post-fix binary from this branch (`67e318148b`): verified both MCP
processes were gone after interrupting `codex exec`, `survivors=[]`,
`leaked=false`.
sayan-oai