From 9b5158c391fbf9d68e544dc7426668948f9a55ae Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Reto Stamm <reto@retostamm.com>
Date: Mon, 16 Feb 2026 19:07:27 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] fix: use non-blocking stdout writes in stdio_server to
 prevent event loop deadlock

When a tool returns a response larger than the OS pipe buffer (64 KB on
macOS), stdout_writer blocks the entire event loop on write() because
anyio.wrap_file delegates to a synchronous write on a blocking fd.

Fix: set stdout fd to non-blocking mode and write in 4 KB chunks via
os.write(), catching BlockingIOError (EAGAIN) and yielding to the event
loop before retrying.  Custom stdout overrides use the original path.

Closes #547
---
 src/mcp/server/stdio.py | 44 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++---
 1 file changed, 41 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/mcp/server/stdio.py b/src/mcp/server/stdio.py
index 7f3aa2ac2..2da211000 100644
--- a/src/mcp/server/stdio.py
+++ b/src/mcp/server/stdio.py
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@ async def run_server():
 ```
 """
 
+import os
 import sys
 from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
 from io import TextIOWrapper
@@ -28,6 +29,26 @@ async def run_server():
 from mcp import types
 from mcp.shared.message import SessionMessage
 
+# Chunk size for non-blocking stdout writes.  Small enough to avoid
+# filling the OS pipe buffer (64 KB on macOS) in a single syscall.
+_WRITE_CHUNK = 4096
+
+
+async def _write_nonblocking(fd: int, data: bytes) -> None:
+    """Write *data* to a non-blocking fd, yielding on EAGAIN.
+
+    Writes in small chunks so the event loop stays responsive even when
+    the MCP client reads slowly and the pipe buffer fills up.
+    """
+    mv = memoryview(data)
+    while mv:
+        try:
+            n = os.write(fd, mv[:_WRITE_CHUNK])
+            mv = mv[n:]
+        except BlockingIOError:
+            # Pipe full — yield to event loop and retry.
+            await anyio.sleep(0.005)
+
 
 @asynccontextmanager
 async def stdio_server(stdin: anyio.AsyncFile[str] | None = None, stdout: anyio.AsyncFile[str] | None = None):
@@ -40,7 +61,14 @@ async def stdio_server(stdin: anyio.AsyncFile[str] | None = None, stdout: anyio.
     # re-wrap the underlying binary stream to ensure UTF-8.
     if not stdin:
         stdin = anyio.wrap_file(TextIOWrapper(sys.stdin.buffer, encoding="utf-8"))
+    # For the default stdout (no custom override), use non-blocking I/O
+    # directly on the file descriptor to prevent the event loop from
+    # blocking when the OS pipe buffer is full (macOS: 64 KB).
+    stdout_fd: int | None = None
     if not stdout:
+        stdout_fd = sys.stdout.buffer.fileno()
+        os.set_blocking(stdout_fd, False)
+        # Still create the wrapped stdout for the type signature / fallback
         stdout = anyio.wrap_file(TextIOWrapper(sys.stdout.buffer, encoding="utf-8"))
 
     read_stream: MemoryObjectReceiveStream[SessionMessage | Exception]
@@ -71,9 +99,19 @@ async def stdout_writer():
         try:
             async with write_stream_reader:
                 async for session_message in write_stream_reader:
-                    json = session_message.message.model_dump_json(by_alias=True, exclude_none=True)
-                    await stdout.write(json + "\n")
-                    await stdout.flush()
+                    json_str = session_message.message.model_dump_json(
+                        by_alias=True, exclude_none=True
+                    )
+                    if stdout_fd is not None:
+                        # Non-blocking write directly to fd — never blocks
+                        # the event loop, yields on pipe-full (EAGAIN).
+                        await _write_nonblocking(
+                            stdout_fd, (json_str + "\n").encode("utf-8")
+                        )
+                    else:
+                        # Custom stdout provided — use original path.
+                        await stdout.write(json_str + "\n")
+                        await stdout.flush()
         except anyio.ClosedResourceError:  # pragma: no cover
             await anyio.lowlevel.checkpoint()