Skip to content

A tool with a *args or **kwargs parameter is registered with a schema it can never satisfy #3514

Description

@Yasser-Ameur

Initial Checks

  • I confirm that I'm using the newest release of my line (2.x, main at 6affe5c)
  • I confirm that I searched for my issue in the issue tracker before opening this issue

Release line

2.x (current stable)

Description

Registering a tool whose function signature has a *args or **kwargs
parameter succeeds, and the tool shows up in list_tools, but it can never
actually be called: the generated JSON schema lists args/kwargs as a
required parameter of a plain scalar type, which doesn't match how the
function actually receives those values.

Expected: either the decorator rejects a signature it can't turn into a
schema (it already does this for a leading underscore in a parameter name),
or the schema reflects what the function accepts.

Actual: the tool is silently registered and permanently uncallable. Calling
it with only the named parameters filled in fails schema validation because
args/kwargs is "missing"; there's no way to actually supply it, since a
JSON object has no way to express "and then also a variable number of
positional values" for a single scalar field.

Example Code

from mcp.server.mcpserver import MCPServer

server = MCPServer("demo")


@server.tool()
def with_kwargs(x: int, **kwargs: str) -> str:
    return f"{x} {kwargs}"

Listing tools shows:

{'type': 'object', 'properties': {'x': {'title': 'X', 'type': 'integer'}, 'kwargs': {'title': 'Kwargs', 'type': 'string'}}, 'required': ['x', 'kwargs'], 'title': 'with_kwargsArguments'}

Calling it with {"x": 1} (the only arguments a caller could reasonably
guess) fails:

Error executing tool with_kwargs: 1 validation error for with_kwargsArguments
kwargs
  Field required [type=missing, input_value={'x': 1}, input_type=dict]

Same shape with *args instead of **kwargs.

Python & MCP Python SDK

Python 3.14.7, mcp-python-sdk main @ 6affe5c

I have a patch that raises InvalidSignature for a *args/**kwargs tool
parameter at registration time, scoped so it doesn't affect resource
templates (which legitimately use **kwargs for runtime-determined URI
variables); happy to open a PR against this issue if that's the direction
you'd want.

Activity

Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    v1Affects the v1.x maintenance linev2Affects the v2 line (2.x on main)

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

      Milestone

      No milestone

      Relationships

      None yet

      Development

      No branches or pull requests

      Issue actions