diff --git a/api/services/pipecat/run_pipeline.py b/api/services/pipecat/run_pipeline.py
index f6ffce4..be71b86 100644
--- a/api/services/pipecat/run_pipeline.py
+++ b/api/services/pipecat/run_pipeline.py
@@ -826,5 +826,10 @@ async def _run_pipeline(
     except asyncio.CancelledError:
         logger.warning("Received CancelledError in _run_pipeline")
     finally:
+        # Close MCP sessions here, not in engine.cleanup(). The anyio cancel
+        # scopes opened by MCPClient.start() in engine.initialize() are
+        # task-affine; this finally runs in the same task as initialize(),
+        # whereas engine.cleanup() runs in a pipecat event-handler task.
+        await engine.close_mcp_sessions()
         await feedback_observer.cleanup()
         logger.debug(f"Cleaned up context providers for workflow run {workflow_run_id}")
diff --git a/api/services/workflow/mcp_tool_session.py b/api/services/workflow/mcp_tool_session.py
index 0caa1b7..a25d2bd 100644
--- a/api/services/workflow/mcp_tool_session.py
+++ b/api/services/workflow/mcp_tool_session.py
@@ -79,8 +79,12 @@ class McpToolSession:
         self.available: bool = False
 
     async def start(self) -> None:
-        """Connect, initialize, and cache the tool list. Never raises —
-        on any failure the session is marked unavailable."""
+        """Connect, initialize, and cache the tool list.
+
+        Never raises on a connect failure — a dead/unreachable MCP server
+        leaves the session marked unavailable (``available = False``). Genuine
+        external cancellation, KeyboardInterrupt, and SystemExit are re-raised
+        (see the CancelledError handling below and ``_degrade``)."""
         try:
             params = build_streamable_http_params(
                 url=self._url,
diff --git a/api/services/workflow/pipecat_engine.py b/api/services/workflow/pipecat_engine.py
index 27827e2..d72c3f4 100644
--- a/api/services/workflow/pipecat_engine.py
+++ b/api/services/workflow/pipecat_engine.py
@@ -955,7 +955,15 @@ class PipecatEngine:
                 exc_info=True,
             )
 
-    async def _close_mcp_sessions(self) -> None:
+    async def close_mcp_sessions(self) -> None:
+        """Close all open MCP tool sessions.
+
+        Must run in the same task that ran initialize() (which opened the
+        sessions via _open_mcp_sessions). The MCP client's underlying anyio
+        cancel scopes are task-affine — they must be exited from the task that
+        entered them — so this is invoked from _run_pipeline's finally, not
+        from cleanup() (which runs in a pipecat event-handler task).
+        """
         for tool_uuid, session in list(self._mcp_sessions.items()):
             try:
                 await session.close()
@@ -964,7 +972,14 @@ class PipecatEngine:
         self._mcp_sessions = {}
 
     async def cleanup(self):
-        """Clean up engine resources on disconnect."""
+        """Clean up engine resources on disconnect.
+
+        MCP tool sessions are intentionally NOT closed here — see
+        close_mcp_sessions(). This method runs in a pipecat event-handler task
+        (on_pipeline_finished), a different task than the one that opened the
+        MCP sessions; closing them here raises "Attempted to exit cancel scope
+        in a different task than it was entered in".
+        """
         # Cancel any pending timeout tasks
         if (
             self._user_response_timeout_task
@@ -973,11 +988,5 @@ class PipecatEngine:
             self._user_response_timeout_task.cancel()
 
         # Cancel any in-flight background summarization.
-        # MCP sessions are closed in a finally block so they are guaranteed to
-        # run even if the summarization cleanup raises an exception.
-        try:
-            if self._context_summarization_manager:
-                await self._context_summarization_manager.cleanup()
-        finally:
-            # Close any open MCP tool sessions
-            await self._close_mcp_sessions()
+        if self._context_summarization_manager:
+            await self._context_summarization_manager.cleanup()
diff --git a/api/tests/test_mcp_integration.py b/api/tests/test_mcp_integration.py
index 4cf01f0..095a0d1 100644
--- a/api/tests/test_mcp_integration.py
+++ b/api/tests/test_mcp_integration.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ async def test_engine_opens_and_closes_mcp_sessions(monkeypatch):
             assert sess.available is True
             assert len(sess.function_schemas()) == 2
         finally:
-            await engine._close_mcp_sessions()
+            await engine.close_mcp_sessions()
         assert engine._mcp_sessions == {}