feat(elicitation): add user consent through elicitation MCP-185 #551

gagik · 2025-09-12T10:38:20Z

Adds an option to require confirmation for certain tools using the new elicitation API. This is not supported by most client yet, only notably VSCode.

Clients which support it will see a confirmation option with a summary before the action is run. If the client doesn't support elicitation, the action will simply be auto-approved.

This option can be confirmed with confirmationRequiredTools and has a default set of drop-database, drop-collection, delete-many, atlas-create-db-user, atlas-create-access-list enabled. These tools also have custom messages for confirmation. If a user adds other tools they'll be met with a more generic tool confirmation message.

In VSCode one must first click "Respond" (which sets action to "accepted") and then choose a value. I decided to let there be an explcit choice of Yes / No in JSON schema instead of opting to just rely on "Respond" as it is not immediately clear that Respond = Yes and I imagine this vagueness in the API spec will lead to confusion across clients so it's best to have an explicit JSON schema value for confirmation.

I also went with enum string Yes / No and not boolean since the displayed value for this is more user friendly.

In VSCode

Step 1: Click "Respond"

Step 2: Choose "Yes"

Step 3: Tool will get called

In Cursor (i.e. unsupported client)

The tool gets called without any confirmation.

Copilot

Pull Request Overview

This PR adds user confirmation functionality for certain MongoDB tools through the new elicitation API, providing an additional safety layer for potentially destructive operations. The implementation allows clients that support elicitation to prompt users for confirmation before executing specified tools, while automatically approving operations for clients that don't support this feature.

Introduces an Elicitation class to handle confirmation requests via the MCP elicitation API
Adds confirmationRequiredTools configuration option with default tools requiring confirmation
Implements confirmation flow in the tool execution pipeline with customizable confirmation messages

Reviewed Changes

Copilot reviewed 17 out of 17 changed files in this pull request and generated 2 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/elicitation.ts	New class implementing elicitation API for user confirmation requests
src/tools/tool.ts	Enhanced base tool class with confirmation verification and customizable messages
src/common/config.ts	Added confirmationRequiredTools configuration option with sensible defaults
src/server.ts	Integrated elicitation into server construction and tool registration
src/transports/base.ts	Added elicitation instance creation in transport runner
src/tools/mongodb/delete/*.ts	Added custom confirmation messages for destructive MongoDB operations
src/tools/atlas/create/*.ts	Added custom confirmation messages for Atlas user and access list creation
src/tools/mongodb/connect/connect.ts	Updated constructor to use new tool parameter structure
src/telemetry/types.ts	Added confirmation_required_tools to server event telemetry
tests/*/.ts	Comprehensive test coverage for elicitation functionality
README.md	Documentation for the new confirmation feature

_{Tip: Customize your code reviews with copilot-instructions.md. Create the file or learn how to get started.}

src/tools/tool.ts

src/server.ts

gagik · 2025-09-12T10:45:27Z

src/elicitation.ts

+     */
+    public supportsElicitation(): boolean {
+        const clientCapabilities = this.server.getClientCapabilities();
+        return clientCapabilities?.elicitation !== undefined;


If one wants to be paranoid... there's might be a chance some client will claim it supports elicitation while not supporting it. Then this would likely make this tool a confusing no-op.
That said this would be client's fault and one could unblock themselves by setting confirmation required tools to nothing.

nirinchev

Havan't looked at the tests yet, but the core implementation looks solid! Good job.

nirinchev · 2025-09-12T10:49:46Z

src/tools/mongodb/delete/deleteMany.ts

        };
    }
+
+    protected getConfirmationMessage({ database, collection, filter }: ToolArgs<typeof this.argsShape>): string {


q1: Do we want to get confirmation for deletions even when we have a filter specified? I thought we only want to do it if you try and delete everything in the collection.
q2: Do we want to give the approximate count of documents that will be deleted in the message?

q1: Do we want to get confirmation for deletions even when we have a filter specified? I thought we only want to do it if you try and delete everything in the collection.

I don't remember the discussions around this but maybe we still should? I think with deletions it's still good to review the filter and whatnot.

q2: Do we want to give the approximate count of documents that will be deleted in the message?

This does seem useful but could this be an expensive operation for extremely large collections? Seems like a potentially problematic side effect.

I would not expect the MCP server to be used for perf critical applications, so am more inclined to think it's a worthwhile tradeoff, but don't feel strongly either way.

I do think running other DB functions for the sake of a confirmation message is a bit unexpected but probably not critically terrible yeah.
I'm going to leave it as is mainly because it'd require some changes to make the get confirmation async (which is fine and doomed to happen), so we can revisit later

src/tools/tool.ts

nirinchev · 2025-09-12T10:53:28Z

src/transports/base.ts

            commonProperties: this.telemetryProperties,
        });

+        const elicitation = new Elicitation({ server: mcpServer.server });


q: should we just construct this in the Server ctor instead?

I don't mind either way but we don't really have any precedent for that, in a sense same would apply to the rest of the constructed instances here

I think we're typically doing that to allow injecting mocked dependencies during tests, but wasn't sure I saw that being taken advantage of here (though I skipped the tests).

I feel like having it outside is a good principle in general as it gets one to think about it if they are ever creating a new instance of the server in tests or otherwise.

src/elicitation.ts

…CP-185 Adds an option to require confirmation for certain tools using the new elicitation API. This is not supported by most client yet, only notably VSCode. Clients which support it will see a confirmation option with a summary before the action is run. If the client doesn't support elicitation, the action will simply be auto-approved. This option can be confirmed with `confirmationRequiredTools` and has a default set of `drop-database`, `drop-collection`, `delete-many`, `atlas-create-db-user`, `atlas-create-access-list` enabled. In VSCode one must first click "Respond" (which sets action to "accepted") and then choose a value. I decided to let there be an explcit choice of Yes / No in JSON schema instead of opting to just rely on "Respond" as it is not immediately clear that `Respond = Yes` and I imagine this vagueness in the API spec will lead to confusion across clients so it's best to have an explicit JSON schema value for confirmation. I also went with enum string Yes / No and not boolean since the displayed value for this is more user friendly.

tests/integration/elicitation.test.ts

coveralls · 2025-09-12T12:00:06Z

Pull Request Test Coverage Report for Build 17673832519

Details

137 of 137 (100.0%) changed or added relevant lines in 11 files are covered.
No unchanged relevant lines lost coverage.
Overall coverage increased (+0.6%) to 82.119%

Totals
Change from base Build 17672133527:	0.6%
Covered Lines:	5024
Relevant Lines:	6004

💛 - Coveralls

src/elicitation.ts

tests/integration/elicitation.test.ts

…ng of delete docs

gagik requested a review from a team as a code owner September 12, 2025 10:38

Copilot AI review requested due to automatic review settings September 12, 2025 10:38

Copilot AI reviewed Sep 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

src/tools/tool.ts Show resolved Hide resolved

src/server.ts Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

gagik commented Sep 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

nirinchev reviewed Sep 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

gagik added 2 commits September 12, 2025 13:06

chore: remove redundant test

faa2824

gagik force-pushed the gagik/elicitation branch from f74e753 to faa2824 Compare September 12, 2025 11:08

gagik commented Sep 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

tests/integration/elicitation.test.ts Show resolved Hide resolved

gagik added 5 commits September 12, 2025 13:20

chore: add elicitation to helpers

7cf9386

chore(tests): use actual integration structure

80258d4

chore: fix MongoDB tests

6c3e17a

chore: fixup

3425bb6

chore: remove voids

896150c

chore: reformat

a19e2f0

nirinchev approved these changes Sep 12, 2025

View reviewed changes

src/elicitation.ts Outdated Show resolved Hide resolved

tests/integration/elicitation.test.ts Show resolved Hide resolved

gagik changed the title ~~feat(elicitation): add user consent configuration through elicitation MCP-185~~ feat(elicitation): add user consent through elicitation MCP-185 Sep 12, 2025

chore: check for default message, use MCP schema type, tweak formatti…

f883282

…ng of delete docs

gagik merged commit bcbf889 into main Sep 12, 2025
20 of 22 checks passed

gagik deleted the gagik/elicitation branch September 12, 2025 13:39

feat(elicitation): add user consent through elicitation MCP-185 #551

feat(elicitation): add user consent through elicitation MCP-185 #551

Uh oh!

Conversation

gagik commented Sep 12, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

In VSCode

Step 1: Click "Respond"

Step 2: Choose "Yes"

Step 3: Tool will get called

In Cursor (i.e. unsupported client)

Uh oh!

Copilot AI left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Pull Request Overview

Reviewed Changes

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

nirinchev left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

gagik Sep 12, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

coveralls commented Sep 12, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Pull Request Test Coverage Report for Build 17673832519

Details

💛 - Coveralls

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

3 participants

gagik commented Sep 12, 2025 •

edited

Loading

gagik Sep 12, 2025 •

edited

Loading

coveralls commented Sep 12, 2025 •

edited

Loading