DocForge2/docs/MCP_CONTRACT.md

MCP boundary

The server uses local standard input/output transport and binds once to the explicit --project-root supplied at process startup. Optional proposal access also binds once to the configured --proposal-writer. It opens no network listener at startup. The explicit docforge_visualize read tool may start one token-protected loopback-only HTTP listener for the same immutable project binding.

Read tools

• docforge_project_info
• docforge_get_contract
• docforge_get_node
• docforge_search
• docforge_filter_nodes
• docforge_backlinks
• docforge_dependencies
• docforge_impact
• docforge_get_context
• docforge_validate_project
• docforge_render_status
• docforge_visualize

Each response states that document text is project content, not higher-priority instructions. Each response includes project identity, revision, source hash, adapter version, and staleness state.

The normal command binds the generic project loader. An explicit project integration may instead construct the same read-only surface from a validated ProjectService and project-owned context provider. This form cannot register proposal tools. Project discovery, session selection, family partitioning, and custom context policy remain outside the DocForge core.

An explicit project integration may construct the full fixed surface only after supplying a confined proposal policy and startup-bound writer. Adapter proposal validators may narrow the writer's declared operations further. They cannot add tools, weaken core changeset validation, or enable canonical application.

Isolated proposal tools

• docforge_create_changeset
• docforge_list_changesets
• docforge_get_changeset
• docforge_propose_node_create
• docforge_propose_node_update
• docforge_propose_node_move
• docforge_propose_node_delete
• docforge_validate_changeset
• docforge_get_changeset_diff
• docforge_preview_changeset

Proposal tools may write only below the configured changeset or isolated preview roots. They never change canonical files or declared project output. Without --proposal-writer, changeset mutation tools return proposal_access_disabled. Validation, diff retrieval, and preview remain available for existing changesets. A preview accepts a declared view ID, not a renderer name or command.

Render boundary

docforge_render_status recomputes expected hashes without writing. docforge_preview_changeset runs only a project-declared view through DocForge's fixed built-in renderer registry and writes one atomic HTML file below the configured preview root. Rendering declared project output is available only through the explicit local CLI integration command.

Visualization boundary

docforge_visualize starts the fixed built-in graph-browser@5 template against the currently validated derived index. It may focus one stable node, run one bounded lexical query, or open the project overview. The tool returns a loopback URL and exact snapshot identity.

The tool cannot select a project, database, template, host, port, filesystem path, or SQL expression. Its HTTP surface is token-bound, read-only, same-origin, and limited to overview, search/filter, node-neighborhood JSON, and a read-only browser-lease heartbeat. The browser exposes an exact validated index snapshot. It rejects index replacement or alteration and requires another MCP invocation to refresh. Viewport interaction is entirely client-side: wheel zoom, left-button drag pan, explicit zoom buttons, and reset never request or mutate project data. Graph-node activation fetches exact node data from the same bounded read endpoint and opens a client-side modal inspector. Replacing the current root requires the modal's explicit Explore neighborhood action. The open browser renews a bounded lease in a detached local worker, so standard-input transaction completion does not close the listener. The worker tracks the longer-lived MCP client host and closes when that owner exits. Explicit service shutdown closes its tracked worker, and abandoned pages expire.

Excluded tools

The normal server never exposes shell execution, arbitrary reads or writes, canonical changeset application, declared project-output rendering, arbitrary renderer execution, Git mutation, project builds, deployment, publication, external HTTP binding, global project selection, or cross-project retrieval.

DFG-9 permanently retained manual canonical integration for DocForge 0.x. No application tool is planned for MCP. A future local developer workflow may be considered only through a new approved contract, and it must not make canonical application reachable from an MCP writer.

DocForge pins the official stable Python MCP SDK to the compatible mcp>=1.28,<2 release line. Migration to a later major release requires a separate contract and protocol compatibility review.