fix(mcp): widget-bearing tools must be read-only: Claude.ai drops write-annotated interactive tools (#1961)

The SIE drop card kept flapping into Claude.ai's Interactive-tools list
and vanishing, and the agent could never call it: every hypothesis
(scope filter, tool-count cap, stale cache, schema shape) was
eliminated against live data until one discriminator remained: all
surviving widget tools carry readOnlyHint true and
gnubok_create_sie_upload was the only one annotated as a write.
Claude.ai accepts always-render widgets only on read-only tools and
silently drops the tool otherwise.

readOnlyHint is now true, which is also honest: the tool only mints a
short-lived upload URL; the actual write is the staged
gnubok_import_sie: the exact receipt_matcher shape (read-only widget
tool, writes via separate approval-gated tools). A guard test pins the
invariant for every future widget tool.

Co-authored-by: Jakob Wennberg <311770904+jakobwennberg-oss@users.noreply.github.com>
Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

extensions/general/mcp-server/__tests__/strict-schemas.test.ts

@@ -41,4 +41,18 @@ describe('MCP tool inputSchema strictness', () => {
 
     expect(missing).toEqual([])
   })
+
+  it('every widget-bearing tool is read-only: Claude.ai drops write-annotated interactive tools', () => {
+    // A tool with definition-level _meta.ui renders on every call. Claude.ai
+    // accepts that only for read-only tools and silently DROPS a
+    // write-annotated one from the connector (E2E #9, 2026-08-26: the SIE
+    // drop card flapped into the Interactive list and vanished). Widget
+    // tools mint links/lists only; actual writes go through separate
+    // approval-gated tools the widget calls.
+    const writers = tools
+      .filter((t) => (t as { _meta?: { ui?: unknown } })._meta?.ui !== undefined)
+      .filter((t) => t.annotations.readOnlyHint !== true)
+      .map((t) => t.name)
+    expect(writers).toEqual([])
+  })
 })

extensions/general/mcp-server/server.ts

@@ -16387,7 +16387,15 @@ export const tools: McpTool[] = [
     },
     _meta: { ui: { resourceUri: 'ui://sie-drop/app.html' } },
     annotations: {
-      readOnlyHint: false,
+      // readOnlyHint MUST stay true on widget-bearing tools: Claude.ai
+      // accepts always-render widgets only on read-only tools and DROPS a
+      // write-annotated one from the connector entirely (the tool flapped
+      // into the Interactive list and vanished, E2E #9 2026-08-26; every
+      // surviving widget tool was readOnly). Honest too: this only mints a
+      // short-lived upload URL; the actual write is the staged
+      // gnubok_import_sie, same shape as receipt_matcher (read-only tool,
+      // writes via separate approval-gated tools).
+      readOnlyHint: true,
       destructiveHint: false,
       idempotentHint: false,
       openWorldHint: false,