dograh/api/tests/test_mcp_instructions_drift.py
Abhishek Kumar 8484e4bfaf test(mcp): guard instructions.py against tool drift
The MCP `instructions` hint is static and baked into the client prompt,
while tool names, signatures, and error codes are discovered dynamically
via tools/list. The two had drifted: instructions restated stale
signatures and an error-code enum that omitted schema_validation and
trigger_path_conflict.

- Trim instructions.py to tool names + call order; stop restating
  signatures and error codes the dynamic surface already carries.
- Document each tool's full error_code contract in the save_workflow and
  create_workflow docstrings (the descriptions shipped via tools/list).
- Add test_mcp_instructions_drift.py: every tool named in the guide must
  be registered, and every error_code a tool returns must appear in its
  description.

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.7 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-05-20 18:44:18 +05:30

115 lines
4.3 KiB
Python

"""Drift guards between the static MCP guide and the live tool surface.
`api/mcp_server/instructions.py` is free text baked into the client
system prompt. It is *not* the authoritative description of the tools —
names, signatures, and per-tool error codes reach the model dynamically
via `tools/list`, derived from each tool's own function signature and
docstring. These tests fail on the two classic drift modes:
1. The guide references a tool that is no longer registered (renamed or
removed) — the model would be told to call something that 404s.
2. A tool returns an `error_code` that is absent from the description it
ships via `tools/list` — the model can't learn to recover from it.
Keep the guide about orchestration (call order, hard constraints) and let
the tools describe themselves.
"""
from __future__ import annotations
import re
from pathlib import Path
import pytest
from api.mcp_server import instructions as instructions_module
from api.mcp_server.server import mcp
from api.mcp_server.tools import create_workflow as create_workflow_module
from api.mcp_server.tools import save_workflow as save_workflow_module
# Every registered MCP tool name starts with one of these verbs. A
# backticked snake_case token in the guide whose leading word is a verb is
# treated as a tool reference; field/reference names like `tool_refs`,
# `credential_ref`, or `pre_call_fetch` don't start with a verb and are
# correctly ignored. Extend this only when a new tool introduces a new
# leading verb (a missing verb under-checks, it never false-fails).
_TOOL_VERB_PREFIXES = frozenset(
{
"search",
"read",
"list",
"get",
"save",
"create",
"update",
"delete",
"add",
"remove",
"set",
}
)
# A backtick immediately followed by a snake_case identifier (>= 1
# underscore). Anchoring on the opening backtick captures the leading
# identifier of a code span whether it is bare (`read_doc`) or a call
# (`read_doc(path)`), while skipping DSL constructs like `wf.edge` or
# `new Workflow` whose first char after the backtick isn't `[a-z_]`.
_BACKTICKED_SNAKE_RE = re.compile(r"`([a-z][a-z0-9]*(?:_[a-z0-9]+)+)")
# Error codes are emitted as the first string arg to `_error_result(...)`.
_ERROR_RESULT_LITERAL_RE = re.compile(r'_error_result\(\s*"([a-z_]+)"')
# `parse_error` / `validation_error` are picked by a `code_key` ternary
# rather than passed as a literal to `_error_result`, so match them too.
_CODE_KEY_LITERAL_RE = re.compile(r'"(parse_error|validation_error)"')
def _referenced_tool_names(text: str) -> set[str]:
return {
token
for token in _BACKTICKED_SNAKE_RE.findall(text)
if token.split("_", 1)[0] in _TOOL_VERB_PREFIXES
}
def _returned_error_codes(module) -> set[str]:
source = Path(module.__file__).read_text(encoding="utf-8")
return set(_ERROR_RESULT_LITERAL_RE.findall(source)) | set(
_CODE_KEY_LITERAL_RE.findall(source)
)
@pytest.mark.asyncio
async def test_guide_only_references_registered_tools():
registered = {tool.name for tool in await mcp.list_tools()}
referenced = _referenced_tool_names(instructions_module.DOGRAH_MCP_INSTRUCTIONS)
assert referenced, "no tool references extracted — the regex likely broke"
unknown = sorted(referenced - registered)
assert not unknown, (
f"instructions.py references tools that are not registered: {unknown}. "
f"Rename/remove the reference or register the tool. "
f"Registered tools: {sorted(registered)}."
)
@pytest.mark.asyncio
@pytest.mark.parametrize(
"tool_name, module",
[
("save_workflow", save_workflow_module),
("create_workflow", create_workflow_module),
],
)
async def test_tool_documents_every_error_code_it_returns(tool_name, module):
descriptions = {
tool.name: tool.description or "" for tool in await mcp.list_tools()
}
description = descriptions[tool_name]
returned = _returned_error_codes(module)
assert returned, f"no error codes detected in {tool_name} source — regex broke"
undocumented = sorted(code for code in returned if code not in description)
assert not undocumented, (
f"{tool_name} returns error_code(s) {undocumented} absent from the description "
f"shipped via tools/list. Document them in the {tool_name} docstring."
)