| name | api-linter |
| description | MCP definition linter rules reference. Use when `bun run lint:mcp` or `bun run devcheck` reports a lint error or warning (`format-parity`, `schema-is-object`, `name-format`, `server-json-*`, etc.) and you need to understand the rule, its severity, and how to fix it. Every rule ID the linter emits has an entry in this doc.
|
| metadata | {"author":"cyanheads","version":"1.12","audience":"external","type":"reference"} |
Overview
The linter validates tool, resource, and prompt definitions against the MCP spec and framework conventions. It is build-time only — not invoked at server startup. It runs in two places:
| Entry point | When | On failure |
|---|
bun run lint:mcp | Manual or CI | Prints errors + warnings, exits non-zero on errors. |
bun run devcheck | Pre-commit workflow | Wraps lint:mcp alongside typecheck, format, bun audit, bun outdated. |
Both surface the same LintReport from validateDefinitions() (exported from @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core/linter). Each diagnostic has a stable rule ID — that's the anchor you land on via the See: skills/api-linter/SKILL.md#<rule> breadcrumb appended to every message.
Severity:
- error — MUST-level spec violation; blocks
devcheck.
- warning — SHOULD-level or quality issue; logged but
devcheck continues.
Imports (if you need to run the linter programmatically):
import { validateDefinitions } from '@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core/linter';
import type { LintReport, LintDiagnostic } from '@cyanheads/mcp-ts-core/linter';
const report = validateDefinitions({ tools, resources, prompts, serverJson, packageJson });
if (!report.passed) process.exit(1);
Rule index
Grouped by family. Jump to any rule ID via its anchor.
| Family | Rules | Section |
|---|
| Definition | definition-invalid | Definition rules |
| Format parity | format-parity, format-parity-threw, format-parity-walk-failed, format-parity-depth-limit | Format parity |
| Schema | schema-is-object, describe-on-fields, schema-serializable, schema-unsatisfiable, header-param-designation | Schema rules |
| Portability | schema-format-portability, schema-anyof-needs-type, schema-no-discriminator-keyword, schema-no-defs, schema-root-oneof-portability, schema-dialect-tag | Portability rules |
| Names | name-required, name-format, name-unique | Name rules |
| Tools | description-required, handler-required, auth-type, auth-scope-format, annotation-type, annotation-coherence, meta-ui-type, meta-ui-resource-uri-required, meta-ui-resource-uri-scheme, app-tool-resource-pairing, canvas-consumer-missing | Tool rules |
| Resources | uri-template-required, uri-template-valid, resource-name-not-uri, template-params-align | Resource rules |
| Landing | landing-* (23 rules — shape, tagline, logo, links, repo, envExample, connectSnippets, theme) | Landing config rules |
| Prompts | generate-required | Prompt rules |
| Handler body | prefer-mcp-error-in-handler, prefer-error-factory, preserve-cause-on-rethrow, no-stringify-upstream-error | Handler body rules |
| Error contract (structural) | error-contract-type, error-contract-empty, error-contract-entry-type, error-contract-code-type, error-contract-code-unknown, error-contract-code-unknown-error, error-contract-reason-required, error-contract-reason-format, error-contract-reason-unique, error-contract-when-required, error-contract-retryable-type, error-contract-recovery-required, error-contract-recovery-empty, error-contract-recovery-min-words | Error contract rules |
| Error contract (conformance) | error-contract-conformance, error-contract-prefer-fail | Error contract rules |
| Enrichment | enrichment-type, enrichment-empty, enrichment-field-type, enrichment-output-collision, enrichment-prefer-block, enrichment-trailer-render, enrichment-trailer-orphan, enrichment-trailer-unknown-field, capped-list-no-truncation | Enrichment rules |
| server.json | ~40 rules prefixed server-json-* | server.json rules |
Definition rules
definition-invalid
Severity: error
Fires when a tools, resources, or prompts array passed to validateDefinitions() contains a null/undefined entry (or any non-object value) instead of a definition object — e.g. a stray import or a conditional that yields undefined/false. The bad entry is reported as this diagnostic and skipped, rather than crashing the whole lint run.
Fix: remove the empty slot, or ensure every element of the array is a real definition object (e.g. [makeFooTool(), enabled ? makeBarTool() : null].filter(Boolean)).
Format parity
Why this family exists: different MCP clients forward different surfaces of a tool response to the model. Claude Code reads structuredContent (from your handler's return value, typed by output). Claude Desktop reads content[] (from your format() function). Every field must be visible on both surfaces or one class of client sees less than another. The linter enforces this by synthesizing a sample value where every leaf is a uniquely identifiable sentinel, calling format() once, then verifying each sentinel (or its key name, for permissive types like booleans) appears in the rendered text.
How leaves are matched. Two strategies, picked by leaf type:
| Leaf type | Sentinel | Match |
|---|
| string | MCPPARITY<path> — alphanumeric only | substring, anywhere in the rendered text |
| number / int / bigint | a large distinctive integer | substring, retried against locale digit grouping (900,000,001 → 900000001) |
| boolean, enum member, literal, unrecognized type | the value the schema dictates (true, the first enum member, the literal) | delimited token — must not be flanked by another alphanumeric or _; falls back to the field's key name as a whole word or camelCase segment |
Two consequences worth knowing when writing a format():
- The string sentinel is alphanumeric so escaping does not break it.
content[] is markdown carrying upstream text you do not control, so escaping _, *, `, [, < at the render boundary is correct — and it leaves an alphanumeric probe byte-identical. Markdown escaping, HTML escaping, and URL encoding all pass. You never need to carve an exception into your escape set to keep lint:mcp green.
- Schema-dictated values must render as their own token. A required
kind: z.enum(['full', 'outline']) that format() never renders is not satisfied by the letters full appearing inside a longer word elsewhere in the output — case_name_full, inactive, listing. Render the field, or render its key name as a label.
format-parity
Severity: error
Fires when format() does not render a field present in output. Emitted once per missing field; large schemas can produce many format-parity diagnostics from a single tool.
Primary fix: render the missing field in format(). For tools that return either a summary list or a detail view, use z.discriminatedUnion so each branch is walked separately:
output: z.discriminatedUnion('mode', [
z.object({ mode: z.literal('list'), items: z.array(ItemSchema) }),
z.object({ mode: z.literal('detail'), item: ItemSchema, history: z.array(HistoryEntry) }),
]),
format: (result) => {
if (result.mode === 'list') return renderList(result.items);
return renderDetail(result.item, result.history);
}
Escape hatch: if the output schema was over-typed for a genuinely dynamic upstream API (e.g., a third-party JSON blob whose shape you can't nail down), relax it:
output: z.object({}).passthrough()
passthrough() still flows the full payload to structuredContent without declaring each field, so the linter has nothing to check against and you're not maintaining aspirational typing.
Anti-pattern: summary-only format() like return [{ type: 'text', text: \Found ${n} items` }]. The sentinel walk will flag every field in the items array. Don't "fix" this by removing fields from output— that makesstructuredContent` clients blind too.
format-parity-threw
Severity: warning
Fires when format() throws while being called with a synthetic sample. The linter cannot verify parity because your formatter crashed before producing output.
Fix: format() must be total — render any valid value of the output schema without throwing. Common causes:
- Assuming an optional array is always present (
result.items.map(...) when items could be undefined)
- Dereferencing a discriminated-union branch without checking the discriminator
- Calling
toFixed() or toISOString() on a value that could legitimately be any number/string
Add narrow guards. The linter feeds a synthetic but schema-valid value; if your formatter can't handle it, real inputs will eventually hit the same path.
format-parity-walk-failed
Severity: warning
Fires when the linter cannot walk the output schema to build a synthetic sample (usually because the schema uses an unusual composition the walker doesn't recognize). Parity is not verified for that tool — nothing is broken at runtime, but the check is silently disabled.
Fix: inspect the walker error message in the diagnostic. Usually caused by custom Zod extensions or mixing Zod 3 and 4 schema internals. File an issue against @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core with the schema shape — this is a linter gap, not user error.
format-parity-depth-limit
Severity: warning
Fires when an output field is nested deeper than the sentinel walker's depth limit (8). Everything at and below that path was not evaluated — parity for the subtree is unknown, not verified. Four array hops from the output root is enough to reach the limit, so it turns up on ordinary shapes, not just pathological ones.
The bound exists because every array / union / record hop multiplies the variant set, and a self-referential schema would otherwise recurse forever. What changed is the reporting: an unevaluated subtree used to be indistinguishable from a field that resolved to nothing, so it read as a pass.
Fix: flatten the output shape so the field sits within the limit, or verify by hand that format() renders it (and treat the warning as the standing reminder that the linter is not covering it).
Schema rules
schema-is-object
Severity: error
Tool input/output and prompt args must be z.object({...}) at the top level (not z.string(), z.array(...), etc.). The MCP spec requires a keyed structure at the schema root.
Fix: wrap whatever you had in a single-key object:
// Wrong
input: z.array(z.string())
// Right
input: z.object({ items: z.array(z.string()).describe('List of items') })
One exception, on tool input only: a z.discriminatedUnion(...) of object variants is accepted, for a multi-mode tool with mutually exclusive argument sets. It advertises as {"type": "object", "oneOf": [...]} — the object requirement holds, and each branch keeps its own required list and const-tagged discriminator. A bare z.union(...) is still rejected: with no discriminator the model has no key to pick a branch by. Output roots stay object-only — the 2025-era projection rewrites a non-object output root and wraps structuredContent to match.
The other schema rules walk every variant, so a missing .describe(), a non-serializable type, or an unsatisfiable node inside one branch is reported at input|<i>.<field>.
describe-on-fields
Severity: warning
Every field in input, output, params, or args needs a .describe('...') call. Descriptions ship to the client and the LLM — missing ones make tools harder to use correctly.
Fix: add .describe('...') to the paths the linter flags. The diagnostic names which path is missing a description (e.g., input.filters.status).
Recursion rules — the linter walks selectively; primitive array elements are intentionally skipped. Knowing what's walked prevents over-application of describes that end up as noise in the generated JSON Schema.
| Schema position | Walked? | Describe required on inner? |
|---|
z.object({ ... }) field | Yes | Yes, on each field |
z.array(compound) element — object, array, or union | Yes | Yes, on the element |
z.array(primitive) element — string, number, enum, regex-branded primitive, etc. | No | No — outer array describe is sufficient |
z.union([a, b, ...]) non-literal option | Yes | Yes, on each option |
z.union([..., z.literal(X), ...]) literal option | No | No — outer union describe is sufficient |
A tool input root that is a z.discriminatedUnion(...) — its variant objects | Yes, their fields | No, not on the variant itself — it is a root, and roots carry no describe |
The asymmetry that catches agents: inside z.union([z.string(), z.array(z.string())]), the outer z.string() option does need a describe (unions walk non-literal options), but the z.string() inside the inner array does not (arrays don't walk primitive elements). If the linter didn't flag a path, don't add a describe there — the redundant describe ships to the JSON Schema as clutter.
Literal variants are exempt because they carry no independent semantic content — they're structural markers. The canonical case is form-client blank tolerance, where a z.literal('') variant is threaded into a union alongside a validated string so empty submissions from MCP Inspector / web UIs round-trip without breaking schema-level validation:
variable: z
.union([
z.literal(''), // form-client sentinel — no describe needed
z.string().max(50).regex(/^[a-z_][a-z0-9_]*$/i)
.describe('Identifier matching [a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_]*, max 50 chars'),
])
.optional()
.describe('Variable name. Blank values from form-based clients are treated as omitted.'),
The outer describe on the union carries the semantic load; the non-literal variant still gets its own describe so the LLM sees the regex/length constraints in JSON Schema. Only the z.literal is skipped.
schema-serializable
Severity: error
Input/output schemas must use JSON-Schema-serializable Zod types only. The MCP SDK converts schemas to JSON Schema for tools/list; non-serializable types cause a hard runtime failure.
Disallowed: z.custom(), z.date(), z.transform(), z.bigint(), z.symbol(), z.void(), z.map(), z.set(), z.function(), z.nan().
Fix: use structural equivalents. Most common swap:
// Wrong
z.date()
// Right
z.string().describe('ISO 8601 timestamp, e.g., 2026-04-20T12:00:00Z')
Parse the string to a Date inside the handler if you need one.
schema-unsatisfiable
Severity: error
Fires when a node in the emitted JSON Schema describes an empty value set — a field no value can ever satisfy. Nothing downstream reports this: the tool registers, the schema is forwarded to the model, and the argument simply can never be populated.
Evaluated on the emitted schema rather than on the Zod schema, because the two disagree in exactly the case that matters most.
| What you wrote | What is emitted |
|---|
z.enum([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]) — a numeric array handed to a string-only constructor | {"type": "string", "enum": []} |
z.enum([]) | {"type": "string", "enum": []} |
z.union([]) | {"anyOf": []} |
z.never() | {"not": {}} |
Fix: for a closed set of non-string values, use a multi-value literal — z.literal([1, 2, 3, 4, 5]) emits {"type": "number", "enum": [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]}. For an empty enum or union, the field has no legal values at all; drop it or give it real members.
Not flagged, deliberately: allOf: [] is vacuously true (matches everything), and empty required / properties / prefixItems are absent constraints rather than impossible ones.
header-param-designation
Severity: error
Fires when a tool's input carries an x-mcp-header designation — from headerParam(schema, 'Name') or a hand-written .meta({ 'x-mcp-header': 'Name' }) — that violates one of the constraints protocol revision 2026-07-28 places on it.
| Constraint | Example violation |
|---|
Statically reachable through a chain of properties keys | A designation on an array element, a z.record() value, any field of a discriminated-union input root (the root advertises oneOf), or a schema hoisted into $defs by .meta({ id }) |
Primitive-typed property — string, integer, number, boolean | headerParam(z.object({ … }), 'Region') |
| Non-empty RFC 9110 token | headerParam(z.string(), 'Bad Name') — spaces, control characters, and HTTP delimiters are all rejected |
| Case-insensitively unique across the whole input schema | 'Region' and 'REGION' on two sibling fields |
Evaluated on the emitted JSON Schema, which is the same input the SDK's own scan reads — so a verdict here is the SDK's verdict.
The message names the offending field in the linter's path vocabulary: input.rows[].region for an array element, input.map.<key> for a record value, input|0.region for a union branch.
Fix: move the designation to a top-level or nested object property. For a multi-mode tool, there is no placement that works — a union input root puts every field behind oneOf; flatten the schema or drop the designation.
Why it is an error, not a warning: the SDK enforces this with a console.warn. The tool still registers, and conforming Streamable HTTP clients then exclude it from tools/list — it silently disappears with nothing reporting the gap. tool() throws on the same condition at definition time, so this rule normally fires only for a definition assembled without the builder.
Silent when the schema cannot be converted to JSON Schema at all — that is schema-serializable's diagnostic.
Portability rules
MCP pins JSON Schema 2020-12 as the default dialect (SEP-1613), but LLM vendors accept different subsets. A schema that passes schema-serializable can still hard-fail at OpenAI's tool validator or silently lose fields at Gemini's API surface. These rules walk the emitted JSON Schema for patterns that break cross-vendor.
Three default-on, two opt-in. Promote opt-ins via MCP_LINT_PORTABILITY=strict (env) or validateDefinitions({ portability: 'strict' }) when targeting multi-vendor deployments.
| Rule | Severity | Default-on? |
|---|
schema-format-portability | error | yes |
schema-anyof-needs-type | warning | yes |
schema-no-discriminator-keyword | warning | yes |
schema-no-defs | warning | only when portability: 'strict' |
schema-dialect-tag | warning | only when portability: 'strict' |
schema-format-portability
Severity: error
Fires when the emitted schema contains a format value outside the allowlist. Default = OpenAI's nine: date-time, time, date, duration, email, hostname, ipv4, ipv6, uuid — the strictest commonly-used target. OpenAI's tool validator hard-rejects unknown formats: the tool never registers and the model never sees it. Field report: cyanheads/git-mcp-server#47 (gpt-5-codex rejecting format: "uri" from z.url()).
Zod methods vs. the default allowlist:
| Zod call | Emitted format | Allowed? |
|---|
z.email(), z.uuid(), z.iso.datetime(), z.iso.date() | email / uuid / date-time / date | yes |
z.url() | uri | no — fires |
z.cuid(), z.cuid2(), z.ulid(), z.nanoid(), z.base64(), z.jwt() | various | no — fires |
Fix: drop the format method, move the constraint into .describe() text where the model reads it:
// Wrong // Right
homepage: z.url().describe('Homepage') homepage: z.string().describe('Homepage (absolute URL)')
Override: widen the allowlist when targeting only vendors that accept the format:
validateDefinitions({ formatAllowlist: ['email', 'uuid', 'date-time', 'uri'], tools, resources, prompts });
schema-anyof-needs-type
Severity: warning
Fires when an anyOf/oneOf branch lacks a top-level type. Gemini rejects with 400: reference to undefined schema. Triggered by patterns like z.union([z.object({...}).nullable(), z.object({...})]) — the inner nullable emits a typeless anyOf.
Fix: prefer optionality via required-omission, or use z.discriminatedUnion for tagged unions — both emit branches with explicit type: "object".
schema-no-discriminator-keyword
Severity: warning
Fires when a schema carries the OpenAPI discriminator keyword. OpenAI silently ignores it; Gemini doesn't recognize it. Zod 4's z.discriminatedUnion emits the portable shape (oneOf of typed branches with const-tagged literals), so this rule mainly catches hand-built schemas attached via .meta({...}) or third-party-generated JSON Schema.
Fix: drop the discriminator meta — the const literals on each branch are how clients tell variants apart.
schema-no-defs
Severity: warning (only when portability: 'strict')
Fires when emitted output contains $defs or $ref. Gemini rejects these (400: reference to undefined schema). Typically caused by reused or recursive types built with z.lazy(...). Opt-in because SEP-1576 (token-bloat mitigation) is moving the community toward more $defs.
Fix: inline the recursive type with bounded depth, or accept the Gemini limitation if you target only Anthropic clients.
schema-root-oneof-portability
Severity: warning (only when portability: 'strict')
Fires when a tool's advertised inputSchema has a root-level oneOf — that is, when input is a z.discriminatedUnion(...). The emitted shape is valid 2020-12, every branch is a typed object, and the bytes are identical on both MCP protocol revisions. What is unmeasured is vendor handling of a oneOf at the parameter root: a client that reads only type and properties would see a parameterless tool and drop the constraint silently rather than erroring. Opt-in, because for Anthropic clients the union is the better shape.
Fix (only if you need the widest vendor reach): flatten to a single z.object() with a discriminator field and optional per-mode fields, and validate the combination in the handler.
schema-dialect-tag
Severity: warning (only when portability: 'strict')
Fires when the top-level schema is missing $schema. SEP-1613 makes JSON Schema 2020-12 the default dialect, but explicit tagging ("$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema") is forward-compatible — older SDK clients default to draft-07. Zod 4's toJSONSchema always emits $schema, so this rule is a no-op for Zod-only servers; it exists as forward-compat for hand-built schemas (see SEP-834).
Name rules
name-required
Severity: error
Every tool, resource, and prompt definition needs a non-empty name string. For resources, an empty name also falls back to the URI template (see resource-name-not-uri).
name-format
Severity: error
Scope: tools only — resources and prompts are checked by name-required only.
Tool names must match ^[A-Za-z0-9._-]{1,128}$ (alphanumerics, dots, hyphens, underscores; 1–128 chars). Tools conventionally use snake_case.
Fix: rename to a valid identifier. If the legacy name is user-facing, keep title as the display string and use a valid name internally.
name-unique
Severity: error
Tool names, resource names, and prompt names must each be unique within their type. Duplicates would cause the client to see only one.
Fix: rename one, or consolidate into a single definition if they're actually the same tool.
Tool rules
description-required
Severity: warning
Every tool, resource, and prompt needs a non-empty description. This is what the client shows the LLM to decide whether to call the definition. A missing description dramatically hurts selection accuracy.
Also applies to resources and prompts (same rule ID, different definitionType).
Fix: write a single cohesive paragraph. Prose, not bullet lists. Descriptions render inline in most clients.
handler-required
Severity: error
Every tool must have a handler function (or taskHandlers object for task tools). Every resource must have a handler. Definitions without handlers can't do anything at runtime.
Also applies to resources (same rule ID, different definitionType).
auth-type
Severity: error
auth must be an array of strings. A single string or other shape is rejected.
// Wrong
auth: 'tool:my_tool:read'
// Right
auth: ['tool:my_tool:read']
auth-scope-format
Severity: error
Every element in auth must be a non-empty string. Empty strings in the array are rejected — they'd match anything.
annotation-type
Severity: warning
annotations hints (readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint, openWorldHint) must be booleans. Strings like 'yes' or numbers are rejected — the MCP spec defines these as booleans and clients may type-check.
annotation-coherence
Severity: warning
Catches readOnlyHint: true with any explicit destructiveHint value (even false) — the destructive hint is meaningless on a read-only tool, so its presence signals authoring confusion. Drop destructiveHint entirely when the tool is read-only.
meta-ui-type
Severity: error (MCP Apps tools only)
When a tool declares _meta.ui, that field must be an object. null, arrays, or primitives are rejected.
meta-ui-resource-uri-required
Severity: error (MCP Apps tools only)
_meta.ui.resourceUri must be a non-empty string. This is the URI the client resolves to load the app UI.
meta-ui-resource-uri-scheme
Severity: warning (MCP Apps tools only)
_meta.ui.resourceUri should use the ui:// scheme. Other schemes (like https://) work but are discouraged — the ui:// convention signals the resource is meant to be hosted by the MCP server, not fetched externally.
app-tool-resource-pairing
Severity: warning (MCP Apps tools only)
An app tool's _meta.ui.resourceUri must match the uriTemplate of a registered resource. This catches the common mistake of renaming one side of the pair and forgetting the other.
Fix: either correct the resourceUri to match an existing resource, or register the resource it references. Use the add-app-tool skill's paired scaffold to avoid this.
canvas-consumer-missing
Severity: warning
Fires when the registered tool set contains at least one tool whose output schema has a depth-0 field named canvas_id or canvasId, but no consumer tool is registered — that is, no tool name ends with _dataframe_query and no extra names are listed in canvasConsumers.
A canvas token with no query path is dead output: the agent receives the token but has no tool to send it to. The fix runs in either direction:
- Complete the integration — add the standard
<prefix>_dataframe_query and <prefix>_dataframe_describe consumers (see api-canvas).
- Remove the staging — when the data isn't row-shaped (nested, heterogeneous, single-record payloads), SQL access adds nothing. Drop the DataCanvas integration rather than adding tools to justify it.
Knob: suppress via LintInput.canvasConsumers:
// Accept a non-standard query tool name:
validateDefinitions({ tools, canvasConsumers: ['my_sql_query'] });
// Disable the rule entirely:
validateDefinitions({ tools, canvasConsumers: false });
Env var: MCP_LINT_CANVAS_CONSUMERS — comma-separated tool names; the literal false disables. A programmatic LintInput.canvasConsumers takes precedence over the env var. Servers that need the knob set MCP_LINT_CANVAS_CONSUMERS=my_query_tool in their .env or CI environment.
Resource rules
uri-template-required
Severity: error
Every resource needs a non-empty uriTemplate string. The URI template is the resource's primary identifier.
uri-template-valid
Severity: error
uriTemplate must be syntactically valid per RFC 6570: balanced braces, non-empty variable names. test://{id/data (unbalanced) and test://{}/data (empty variable) are rejected.
resource-name-not-uri
Severity: warning
Warns when the resource's name defaults to the URI template because no explicit name was provided. URIs make poor display names — clients often show them verbatim.
Fix: add a short name field:
resource('myscheme://{id}/data', {
name: 'Item data', // <-- add this
// ...
})
template-params-align
Severity: error
Every variable in the URI template must appear as a key in the params schema. test://{itemId}/data with params: z.object({ item_id: ... }) is rejected — casing mismatches count. The check is template → schema only; extra schema keys not referenced by the template are not flagged.
Fix: rename one side so they match exactly. The error message names which variables are on which side.
Prompt rules
generate-required
Severity: error
Every prompt needs a generate function that returns the message array. Prompts without generate have nothing to produce.
(Prompts also share name-* and description-required rules from their respective families.)
server.json rules
Validates the server.json manifest at project root against the MCP server manifest spec. Every rule below fires only when a server.json is present.
| Rule ID | Severity | What it checks |
|---|
server-json-type | error | server.json must be a JSON object, not an array or primitive |
server-json-name-required | error | name must be present and non-empty |
server-json-name-length | error | name length 3–200 characters |
server-json-name-format | error | name must match reverse-DNS pattern owner/project |
server-json-description-required | error | description must be present and non-empty |
server-json-description-length | warning | description > 100 chars — some registries truncate |
server-json-version-required | error | version must be present |
server-json-version-length | error | version length ≤ 255 |
server-json-version-no-range | error | version must be a specific version, not a range (^, ~, >=, etc.) |
server-json-version-semver | warning | version should be valid semver (major.minor.patch) |
server-json-version-sync | warning | server.json version should match package.json version |
server-json-repository-type | error | repository must be an object |
server-json-repository-url | error | repository.url is required when repository is present |
server-json-repository-source | error | repository.source is required when repository is present |
server-json-packages-type | error | packages must be an array |
server-json-package-type | error | Each packages[i] must be an object |
server-json-package-registry | error | packages[i].registryType is required |
server-json-package-identifier | error | packages[i].identifier is required |
server-json-package-transport | error | packages[i].transport is required |
server-json-package-no-latest | error | packages[i].version must not be "latest" — pin a specific version |
server-json-package-version-sync | warning | packages[i].version should match root version |
server-json-package-args-type | error | packages[i].packageArguments must be an array |
server-json-runtime-args-type | error | packages[i].runtimeArguments must be an array |
server-json-env-vars-type | error | packages[i].environmentVariables must be an array |
server-json-remotes-type | error | remotes must be an array |
server-json-remote-type | error | Each remotes[i] must be an object |
server-json-remote-transport-type | error | remotes[i].type is required |
server-json-remote-no-stdio | error | remotes[i].type must be streamable-http or sse — stdio is not valid for remotes |
server-json-transport-type | error | transport must be an object |
server-json-transport-type-value | error | transport.type must be one of stdio, streamable-http, sse |
server-json-transport-url-required | error | transport.url required for streamable-http and sse |
server-json-transport-url-format | warning | transport.url should be http:// or https:// |
server-json-argument-type | error | Each argument must be an object |
server-json-argument-type-value | error | argument.type must be positional or named |
server-json-argument-name | error | Named arguments require name |
server-json-argument-value | error | Positional arguments require value or valueHint |
server-json-input-format | warning | format should be string, number, boolean, or filepath |
server-json-env-var-type | error | Each environment variable must be an object |
server-json-env-var-name | error | Environment variable name is required |
server-json-env-var-description | warning | Environment variables should have a description |
Most of these are mechanical — fix the manifest field named in the diagnostic's message. The registry spec is the source of truth; this linter just surfaces violations before you submit.
Landing config rules
Validate the landing config passed to createApp() (the config object that drives the framework's landing page). Run only when input.landing is provided to validateDefinitions. All errors — landing config that's structurally broken would render incorrectly on the public page.
| Rule | Severity | Catches |
|---|
landing-shape | error | landing is not a plain object |
landing-tagline-type | error | tagline is present but not a string |
landing-tagline-length | error | tagline exceeds the max length |
landing-logo-type | error | logo is present but not a string |
landing-logo-size | error | logo is too long for inline rendering |
landing-links-type | error | links is present but not an array |
landing-links-count | error | links exceeds the max count |
landing-link-shape | error | A links[] entry is not a plain object |
landing-link-href | error | A link entry's href is missing or not a non-empty string |
landing-link-label | error | A link entry's label is missing or not a non-empty string |
landing-repo-root-type | error | repoRoot is present but not a string |
landing-repo-root-shape | error | repoRoot is not a recognized GitHub URL shape |
landing-env-example-type | error | envExample is present but not a plain object |
landing-env-example-count | error | envExample has too many entries |
landing-env-example-key | error | An envExample key is empty or invalid |
landing-env-example-value | error | An envExample value is not a string |
landing-connect-snippets-type | error | connectSnippets is present but not a plain object |
landing-connect-snippets-key | error | A connectSnippets key is empty |
landing-connect-snippets-value | error | A connectSnippets value is not a string |
landing-connect-snippets-empty | error | A connectSnippets value is an empty string |
landing-theme-type | error | theme is present but not a plain object |
landing-theme-accent | error | theme.accent is present but not a string |
landing-theme-accent-format | error | theme.accent doesn't match the expected color format |
Diagnostic anchors for these rules are the rule ID — e.g. skills/api-linter/SKILL.md#landing-shape. Pass landing to validateDefinitions({ landing, tools, resources, prompts }) to opt in.
Handler body rules
Heuristic source-text checks that scan handler.toString() for common error-handling anti-patterns. All warnings — false positives are possible because the rules can't see code reached through wrappers, factories assigned to variables, or service-layer throws. Each rule fires at most once per handler to keep reports quiet.
prefer-mcp-error-in-handler
Severity: warning
Fires when a handler contains throw new Error(...). Plain Error doesn't carry a JSON-RPC code — the framework's auto-classifier degrades to InternalError, hiding the actual failure mode.
Plain Error is acceptable for "don't care" cases where the specific code doesn't matter (per CLAUDE.md/AGENTS.md: "plain Error for don't-care cases"). This rule targets domain-specific failures that deserve a concrete code — upgrade those to factories or ctx.fail, and accept the warning for the rest.
Fix: use McpError or a factory for domain-specific failures:
// instead of:
throw new Error('Item not found');
// use:
throw notFound('Item not found', { itemId });
prefer-error-factory
Severity: warning
Fires when a handler builds an error via new McpError(JsonRpcErrorCode.X, ...) and a matching factory exists (notFound, rateLimited, serviceUnavailable, …). The factory form is shorter, self-documenting, and consistent with the rest of the codebase.
Fix: swap the constructor for the factory the diagnostic names:
// instead of:
throw new McpError(JsonRpcErrorCode.NotFound, 'Item missing');
// use:
throw notFound('Item missing');
preserve-cause-on-rethrow
Severity: warning
Fires when a catch (e) block throws a structured McpError (or factory) without passing { cause: e }. Dropping the cause loses the original stack trace — observability platforms and pino-pretty rely on it to render error chains.
Fix: thread the cause through the 4th McpError argument or factory options:
try {
await fetchUpstream();
} catch (e) {
throw serviceUnavailable('Upstream failed', { service: 'pubmed' }, { cause: e });
}
no-stringify-upstream-error
Severity: warning
Fires when a handler throws an error message containing JSON.stringify(...). Stringifying caught or upstream errors into the message risks leaking internal stack traces, AWS internal ARNs, or third-party trace IDs to clients.
Fix: sanitize first, or attach the raw blob to the error's data payload — never the message.
// instead of:
throw new Error(`Upstream failed: ${JSON.stringify(e)}`);
// use:
throw serviceUnavailable('Upstream failed', { upstreamError: e }, { cause: e });
Error contract rules
Validate the optional errors[] declarative contract on tool/resource definitions. Structural rules check the shape of contract entries; conformance rules cross-check the handler body against the declared codes.
When a contract is declared, the handler receives a typed ctx.fail(reason, …) keyed by the declared reason union. See skills/api-errors/SKILL.md for runtime semantics.
error-contract-type
Severity: error
Fires when errors is present but not an array. The contract must be a tuple of ErrorContract entries.
error-contract-empty
Severity: warning
Fires when errors: [] is declared. An empty contract is a no-op — nothing to surface in tools/list, no reason union for ctx.fail, no conformance to check.
Fix: drop the field, or declare actual failure modes.
error-contract-entry-type
Severity: error
Fires when an entry in errors[] isn't an object. Each entry must be { code, reason, when, recovery } (and optionally retryable).
error-contract-code-type
Severity: error
Fires when an entry's code is missing or not a number. Use the JsonRpcErrorCode enum:
errors: [{ code: JsonRpcErrorCode.NotFound, reason: 'no_match', when: 'No items matched' }]
error-contract-code-unknown
Severity: error
Fires when an entry's code is a number but not a known JsonRpcErrorCode value. Likely a typo or stale magic number — import the enum and use a member.
error-contract-code-unknown-error
Severity: warning
Fires when an entry uses JsonRpcErrorCode.UnknownError (-32099). That code is the auto-classifier's giveup-fallback; declaring it in a contract conveys nothing useful to clients.
Fix: pick a more specific code (InternalError, ServiceUnavailable, etc.) or drop the entry.
error-contract-reason-required
Severity: error
Fires when an entry's reason is missing or empty. reason is the stable machine-readable identifier clients switch on; it must always be present.
error-contract-reason-format
Severity: warning
Fires when reason isn't snake_case (matched against ^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$). Reasons are part of the public API — treat them like API constants. 'NotFound', 'no-match', '1bad' all warn.
Fix: rename to snake_case ('no_match', 'rate_limited', …).
error-contract-reason-unique
Severity: error
Fires when two entries in the same contract share a reason. Reasons must be unique within a contract — they're how ctx.fail(reason, …) selects the entry.
error-contract-when-required
Severity: error
Fires when an entry's when field is missing or empty. when is the human-readable explanation surfaced to LLMs and UI clients; without it, the contract is opaque.
error-contract-retryable-type
Severity: warning
Fires when an entry's optional retryable field is present but isn't a boolean. Only true or false is meaningful — drop the field if you can't commit to either.
error-contract-recovery-required
Severity: error
Fires when an entry's recovery field is missing or not a string. recovery is the agent's next-move guidance when this failure fires — it flows to the wire via ctx.recoveryFor.
error-contract-recovery-empty
Severity: error
Fires when recovery is an empty string. A blank recovery is worse than none — it suggests the field was considered and deliberately left empty.
Fix: write a concrete recovery hint (≥5 words).
error-contract-recovery-min-words
Severity: warning
Fires when recovery has fewer than 5 words. Short recoveries like "Try again." are too vague to guide an agent's next action.
Fix: expand with specifics — what to try, what parameter to change, which tool to call instead.
error-contract-conformance
Severity: warning
Cross-check rule. Fires when a handler throws a non-baseline code (via new McpError(JsonRpcErrorCode.X, …) or a factory like notFound()) that isn't declared in errors[].
Baseline codes (InternalError, ServiceUnavailable, Timeout, ValidationError, SerializationError) are auto-allowed because they bubble from anywhere — services, framework utilities, the auto-classifier — and are implicitly always-possible on any tool. Only domain-specific codes need declaring.
Fix: add the missing code to errors[] with a stable reason, or route through ctx.fail(reason, …) if it maps to an existing entry.
Heuristic limitations: the scan reads handler.toString() and only counts code construction sites — new McpError(JsonRpcErrorCode.X, …) and throw factory(…). A bare JsonRpcErrorCode.X reference in a comparison (err.code === JsonRpcErrorCode.X) or a case label is not a throw and is correctly ignored. Indirect throws (const e = notFound(); throw e;), throws from called services, and throws via runtime helpers like httpErrorFromResponse(...) are invisible.
error-contract-prefer-fail
Severity: warning
Fires when a handler throws a code that is declared in the contract directly (via factory or new McpError) instead of routing through ctx.fail(reason, …). Direct throws bypass the typed helper, leaving observers without a stable data.reason and disconnecting the throw site from the contract entry.
Fix: swap the direct throw for ctx.fail using the reason the diagnostic suggests:
// instead of:
throw notFound('No items match');
// use:
throw ctx.fail('no_match', 'No items match');
The diagnostic message includes the declared reason(s) for the code so you can copy-paste.
Enrichment rules
Validate the enrichment block — the success-path counterpart to errors[]. Enrichment fields are merged into structuredContent and folded into the advertised outputSchema, so the linter guards the block's shape and its disjointness from output. See api-context's ctx.enrich and add-tool's Tool Response Design.
enrichment-type
Severity: error
Fires when enrichment is present but isn't a plain object mapping field names to Zod schemas (a ZodRawShape) — e.g. an array or a primitive.
Fix: declare enrichment: { <name>: <ZodType>, … }.
enrichment-empty
Severity: warning
Fires when enrichment: {} is declared with no fields — a no-op.
Fix: drop the field, or declare the agent-facing fields ctx.enrich(...) will populate.
enrichment-field-type
Severity: error
Fires when an enrichment field's value isn't a Zod schema.
Fix: use a Zod type (z.string().describe(…), z.number().describe(…), …) for every enrichment field.
enrichment-output-collision
Severity: error
Fires when an enrichment key matches an output key. The effective output schema is output.extend(enrichment), so a collision silently overrides the output field.
Fix: rename one side so enrichment keys are disjoint from output keys.
enrichment-prefer-block
Severity: warning
Advisory. Fires when a tool has no enrichment block but an output field whose name strongly signals agent-facing context (notice, effectiveQuery, queryEcho) rather than domain payload.
Fix: move the field into an enrichment block and populate it via ctx.enrich(...) — it reaches both client surfaces without a format() entry. Ignore if the field is genuinely domain data. Deliberately conservative — common domain fields like totalCount are not flagged.
enrichment-trailer-render
Severity: error
Fires when a non-scalar (object/array) enrichment field has no enrichmentTrailer.render. It would JSON.stringify into a one-line blob in the content[] trailer (structuredContent keeps the full value either way). The delta shape (z.object({ before, after }), populated by ctx.enrich.delta()) is exempt — it renders natively as field: before → after.
Fix: add a renderer — enrichmentTrailer: { <field>: { render: (v) => … } } — use ctx.enrich.delta() for before/after state, or opt into the JSON blob explicitly with render: (v) => JSON.stringify(v).
enrichment-trailer-orphan
Severity: error
Fires when enrichmentTrailer is declared without an enrichment block — trailer config only renders enrichment fields.
Fix: add the enrichment block, or drop the enrichmentTrailer.
enrichment-trailer-unknown-field
Severity: error
Fires when an enrichmentTrailer key doesn't match any declared enrichment field (a typo or drift the keyof-typed config already catches for TS authors).
Fix: rename the trailer key to a declared enrichment field, or remove it.
capped-list-no-truncation
Severity: warning
Fires when a tool:
- has a depth-0 input field whose name is cap-shaped, AND
- has at least one depth-0 array-typed
output field, AND
- declares no truncation disclosure.
Cap-shaped means, after normalizing camelCase to snake_case (so maxRecords and max_records are one case):
| Shape | Examples |
|---|
limit, <noun>_limit / <noun>Limit | limit, result_limit, resultLimit |
max_<noun> / max<Noun> | max_results, maxResults, max_items, maxRecords, maxRows |
| page-size idioms | per_page, perPage, page_size, pageSize |
Matched by shape rather than an enumerated list, so a new cap noun is covered on arrival instead of silently disabling the rule for that tool. Deliberately not matched: bare count, size, n, rows, records, and words that merely begin with the letters (maximum).
The shape does not distinguish a cap on how many from an upper bound on a value, so a range filter written as max_<noun> — max_magnitude, max_depth_km, maxLat, max_date — matches too. On a tool that also returns an array and discloses nothing, that reads as a warning about truncation the tool does not perform. Disclose totalCount if the array is paged at all (which silences it honestly), or exempt the tool via truncationAllowlist / MCP_LINT_TRUNCATION_ALLOWLIST.
Disclosure-present (rule silent) when any of the following is true:
- The declared
enrichment shape has a truncated or totalCount key (ctx.enrich.truncated() and ctx.enrich.total() satisfy this).
- The
output schema has a depth-0 truncated or totalCount field.
A silently capped list leaves the agent unaware that results were cut off — it may treat a partial set as complete. Use ctx.enrich.truncated({ shown, cap }) for the one-liner:
// In the enrichment block:
enrichment: {
truncated: z.boolean().describe('True when the list was capped at the limit.'),
shown: z.number().describe('Number of items returned.'),
cap: z.number().describe('The limit applied.'),
},
// In the handler:
if (items.length >= input.limit) {
ctx.enrich.truncated({ shown: items.length, cap: input.limit });
}
Or use ctx.enrich.total(n) when the upstream total is known — that writes totalCount, which is also recognized as honest disclosure.
Threshold bound: when the list is sorted by the cap key and the upstream total is unknowable (e.g. an API returning only the page), the smallest shown value upper-bounds all omitted items. Pass it as ceiling:
ctx.enrich.truncated({ shown: items.length, cap: input.limit, ceiling: items.at(-1)?.count });
Declare truncationCeiling: z.number().optional() in the enrichment block to surface it.
Knob: suppress via LintInput.truncationAllowlist:
// Exempt a specific tool:
validateDefinitions({ tools, truncationAllowlist: ['my_search_tool'] });
// Disable the rule entirely:
validateDefinitions({ tools, truncationAllowlist: false });
Env var: MCP_LINT_TRUNCATION_ALLOWLIST — comma-separated tool names; the literal false disables. A programmatic LintInput.truncationAllowlist takes precedence.
Escape hatches
Dynamic upstream data
If output wraps a third-party API whose shape you can't pin down, prefer z.object({}).passthrough() over aspirational typing. The linter skips format-parity for passthrough schemas, and structuredContent still receives the full payload.
Temporarily suppress a warning
Warnings don't block startup, so you can ship with them logged. If one is genuinely wrong (rather than the rule being wrong for your case), file an issue against @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core with the repro — the linter rules are still maturing.
Escape isn't "make it pass"
Don't remove fields from output to silence format-parity — that makes the data invisible to structuredContent clients too. Don't rename description to something else to silence describe-on-fields. The right fix is either to render the field (format-parity) or accept the warning (description-required).
Adding a new rule
If you're extending @cyanheads/mcp-ts-core with a new lint rule:
- Add the rule to
src/linter/rules/<family>-rules.ts. Return LintDiagnostic objects with a stable rule ID.
- Wire it into
validateDefinitions() in src/linter/validate.ts if it's a new family.
- Add tests in
tests/unit/linter/.
- Document the rule in this file. Add it to the rule index, write a section under the matching family, and bump
metadata.version in the frontmatter.
- The breadcrumb mapping in
validateDefinitions() is family-prefix-based (server-json-* → #server-json-rules, etc.), so rules in existing families pick up the right anchor automatically.
