fix(mcp): install and expose a global connector's deps where they are needed
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Two halves of the same failure, found debugging a marketplace connector that
logged "connected — 6 tool(s)" while every call died on a missing module.

The verify ran as a bare `sh -c` and inherited nothing, so a python connector
was rejected by its own verify for a dependency installed one directory away —
`global_enable` installs before it verifies, so the deps were provably there at
the moment the check denied them, and the row ended up disabled. Only
connectors that bother to declare a verify could hit it. `verify_env` now
builds the verify's environment in one place and derives PYTHONPATH from the
workdir, which is already the connector dir in both targets; `or_insert`, so a
value the form declares still wins.

The global branch of the reinstall refresh restarted the server without ever
installing its deps: `ensure_installed_host` was reachable from `global_enable`
alone, so a marketplace Update that adds a requirements.txt landed the file and
brought the connector back exactly as broken. It now runs once per connector
folder before the restart loop, best-effort. The per-user branch had always
reinstalled, which is why nothing with scope=user ever showed the bug.

Known gap, deliberate: POST /api/mcp/test shares run_verify but not the
install, so testing a python connector never enabled on the box still fails on
missing deps. Making a "try it" button write to disk for minutes is the worse
trade.
This commit is contained in:
Daniele
2026-08-10 13:11:02 +01:00
parent 5fb5854ff2
commit 59549d2b3b
3 changed files with 138 additions and 19 deletions
+4
View File
@@ -217,6 +217,10 @@ MCP servers are surfaced to users as **"Connectors"** (UI naming; `mcp`/schema s
**Dependency reconciler (`mcp::install::ensure_installed`).** Copying a local-script connector's files into a container never installed its deps. `ensure_installed` closes that: a **content-hash reconciler** keyed on the connector's *source* files (not a version string) that, when the hash changed, re-copies the files and installs deps inside the container — `npm ci --omit=dev` (node, from `package.json`) and/or `pip install --target .pydeps` (python, from `requirements.txt`, put on the server's `PYTHONPATH` by `user_row_spec`). Runs at activation **and** on every per-user startup path (`UserContext` build, remount) via `mcp::prepare_local_connector`, so a fresh container installs from scratch, an updated connector re-installs, and an unchanged one is a hash-match no-op. Deps are therefore **never vendored** — connectors ship `package.json`/`requirements.txt`, not `node_modules/`. Authoring contract for connectors lives in `CONNECTOR_MANIFEST_GUIDE.md` (repo root).
**The host half has no reconciler, so its call sites are the contract.** A `global` connector runs in the Skald process, not a container, and `ensure_installed_host` is not hash-guarded — it leans on `pip`/`npm` being idempotent, which is only safe as long as *every* path that lands new files also calls it. There are two: `global_enable` (the admin saving a connector's config) and, since it was missing, the global branch of `Skald::refresh_connector_after_reinstall`. Without the second, a marketplace **Update** that *adds* a `requirements.txt` copied the file and restarted the server without installing anything — the connector came back exactly as broken, and the only cure was re-saving its config. Note what that asymmetry cost: the per-user branch of the same function had always reinstalled (`prepare_local_connector`), so the bug was invisible on anything `scope: user`.
**The verify runs with `.pydeps` on `PYTHONPATH`, and must** (`mcp::verify::verify_env`). Only the *server* launch used to get that path (`global_row_spec` / `user_row_spec`); the verify is a bare `sh -c` inheriting nothing, so a python connector was rejected **by its own verify** for a dependency sitting installed one directory away — and `global_enable` installs *before* it verifies, so the deps were provably there at the moment the check denied them. The failure selected for well-written connectors: declaring no `verify` meant never meeting it. The workdir *is* the connector dir in both targets, so the path is derived, not plumbed, and set with `or_insert` — an explicit `PYTHONPATH` from the form is the author's. One gap left deliberately: `POST /api/mcp/test` (the Test button) shares `run_verify` but **not** `ensure_installed_host`, so testing a python connector that was never enabled on this box still fails on the missing deps. Making a "try it" button write to disk for minutes is the worse trade; enable first.
**Connector versioning.** `mcp_catalog` carries `version` (INTEGER — the update-comparison key), `version_string` (semver, display) and `version_release_date` (ISO, display), snapshotted from the feed on install. The marketplace list computes `update_available` = feed `version` > installed `version` (strict) and surfaces it as an "Update" button (`marketplace.js`). The integer is the UI signal; the actual re-install trigger is the reconciler's content-hash.
### OAuth per-user connectors (blueprint §15 — copy-paste flow)