fix(mcp): drain elicitation_rx concurrently in run_inline_tool_loop

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -31,7 +31,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
 - fix(classifiers): add configurable `pii_ner_allowlist` to `ClassifiersConfig` — tokens matching an allowlist entry (case-insensitive) are never redacted by the piiranha NER model, suppressing false positives such as "Zeph" → `[PII:CITY]`; default entries: `["Zeph", "Rust", "OpenAI", "Ollama", "Claude"]`; list is empty-able via config to disable the feature (closes #2537)
 - fix(classifiers): document that macOS Apple Silicon requires `--features full,metal` for piiranha NER GPU acceleration; without `metal`, the 1.1 GB model exceeds the 30s timeout on CPU and falls back to regex-only PII detection (closes #2538)
-
+- fix(mcp): elicitation deadlock in `run_inline_tool_loop` (phase 3, closes #2542) — `run_inline_tool_loop` now wraps each `execute_tool_call_erased` call in `tokio::select!` that concurrently drains `elicitation_rx`; `handle_elicitation_event` changed to `pub(super)` for cross-module access; regression test added with a blocking executor that simulates the real MCP deadlock scenario
 - fix(tools): propagate `claim_source` from `ToolOutput` into the post-execution audit entry in `AdversarialPolicyGateExecutor`; `write_audit` now accepts an explicit `claim_source` parameter so the field is no longer hardcoded to `None` for successful executions (closes #2535)
 - fix(tools): `extract_paths` now detects relative path tokens that contain `/` but do not start with `/` or `./` (e.g. `src/main.rs`, `.local/foo/bar`); URL schemes (`://`) and shell variable assignments (`KEY=value`) are excluded from matching (closes #2536)
 

crates/zeph-core/src/agent/mod.rs

@@ -1683,7 +1683,7 @@ impl<C: Channel> Agent<C> {
     /// learning engine, sanitizer, metrics). Inline tasks are short-lived orchestration
     /// sub-tasks that run synchronously inside the scheduler tick loop.
     async fn run_inline_tool_loop(
-        &self,
+        &mut self,
         prompt: &str,
         max_iterations: usize,
     ) -> Result<String, zeph_llm::LlmError> {
@@ -1749,6 +1749,9 @@ impl<C: Channel> Agent<C> {
                     messages.push(Message::from_parts(Role::Assistant, parts));
 
                     // Execute each tool call and collect results.
+                    // Drain elicitation_rx concurrently to avoid deadlock: MCP tool may
+                    // send an elicitation request and block waiting for a response while
+                    // execute_tool_call_erased is blocked waiting for the tool to finish.
                     let mut result_parts: Vec<MessagePart> = Vec::new();
                     for tc in &tool_calls {
                         let call = ToolCall {
@@ -1758,11 +1761,24 @@ impl<C: Channel> Agent<C> {
                                 _ => serde_json::Map::new(),
                             },
                         };
-                        let output = match self.tool_executor.execute_tool_call_erased(&call).await
-                        {
-                            Ok(Some(out)) => out.summary,
-                            Ok(None) => "(no output)".to_owned(),
-                            Err(e) => format!("[error] {e}"),
+                        let output = loop {
+                            tokio::select! {
+                                result = self.tool_executor.execute_tool_call_erased(&call) => {
+                                    break match result {
+                                        Ok(Some(out)) => out.summary,
+                                        Ok(None) => "(no output)".to_owned(),
+                                        Err(e) => format!("[error] {e}"),
+                                    };
+                                }
+                                Some(event) = async {
+                                    match self.mcp.elicitation_rx.as_mut() {
+                                        Some(rx) => rx.recv().await,
+                                        None => std::future::pending().await,
+                                    }
+                                } => {
+                                    self.handle_elicitation_event(event).await;
+                                }
+                            }
                         };
                         let is_error = output.starts_with("[error]");
                         result_parts.push(MessagePart::ToolResult {

crates/zeph-core/src/agent/tests.rs

@@ -3748,7 +3748,7 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
         let registry = create_test_registry();
         let executor = CallableToolExecutor::new(vec![]);
 
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent.run_inline_tool_loop("what is 2+2?", 10).await;
 
         assert_eq!(result.unwrap(), "the answer");
@@ -3765,7 +3765,7 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
         let registry = create_test_registry();
         let executor = CallableToolExecutor::fixed_output("tool result");
 
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent.run_inline_tool_loop("run a tool", 10).await;
 
         assert_eq!(result.unwrap(), "done");
@@ -3785,7 +3785,7 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
         let executor = CallableToolExecutor::fixed_output("ok");
 
         let max_iter = 5usize;
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent.run_inline_tool_loop("loop forever", max_iter).await;
 
         // Must return Ok (not panic or hang) and have called the provider exactly max_iter times.
@@ -3807,7 +3807,7 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
         let registry = create_test_registry();
         let executor = CallableToolExecutor::failing();
 
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent.run_inline_tool_loop("trigger error", 10).await;
 
         assert_eq!(result.unwrap(), "recovered");
@@ -3852,7 +3852,7 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
             })),
         ]);
 
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent
             .run_inline_tool_loop("two tools then answer", 10)
             .await;
@@ -3869,11 +3869,122 @@ mod inline_tool_loop_tests {
         let registry = create_test_registry();
         let executor = CallableToolExecutor::new(vec![]);
 
-        let agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor);
         let result = agent.run_inline_tool_loop("this will fail", 10).await;
 
         assert!(result.is_err());
     }
+
+    // Regression test for issue #2542: elicitation deadlock in run_inline_tool_loop.
+    //
+    // The real deadlock scenario: MCP tool sends an elicitation event and then blocks
+    // waiting for the agent to respond via response_tx. Meanwhile execute_tool_call_erased
+    // also blocks waiting for the MCP tool — neither side makes progress.
+    //
+    // The fix: select! concurrently drains elicitation_rx while awaiting the tool result.
+    //
+    // Test design: BlockingElicitingExecutor sends an elicitation event then blocks on
+    // `unblock_rx` (a oneshot whose sender is never signalled — it stays pending until
+    // the future is cancelled). When select! picks the elicitation branch it cancels the
+    // tool future, dropping `unblock_rx`. On the next invocation `unblock_rx` is None so
+    // the executor returns immediately. This guarantees select! MUST pick the elicitation
+    // branch on the first iteration (tool is the only blocking party). If the fix were
+    // absent, the test would deadlock and time out.
+    #[tokio::test]
+    async fn elicitation_event_during_tool_execution_is_handled() {
+        use std::sync::Arc;
+        use std::time::Duration;
+        use tokio::sync::{mpsc, oneshot};
+        use zeph_mcp::ElicitationEvent;
+
+        struct BlockingElicitingExecutor {
+            elic_tx: mpsc::Sender<ElicitationEvent>,
+            // Holds the oneshot rx that the executor awaits on the first call.
+            // Dropped (None) on re-invocation after select! cancels the first future.
+            unblock_rx: Arc<std::sync::Mutex<Option<oneshot::Receiver<()>>>>,
+            sent: Arc<std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool>,
+        }
+
+        impl ToolExecutor for BlockingElicitingExecutor {
+            async fn execute(&self, _response: &str) -> Result<Option<ToolOutput>, ToolError> {
+                Ok(None)
+            }
+
+            async fn execute_tool_call(
+                &self,
+                _call: &ToolCall,
+            ) -> Result<Option<ToolOutput>, ToolError> {
+                if !self.sent.swap(true, std::sync::atomic::Ordering::SeqCst) {
+                    let (response_tx, _response_rx) = oneshot::channel();
+                    let event = ElicitationEvent {
+                        server_id: "test-server".to_owned(),
+                        request:
+                            rmcp::model::CreateElicitationRequestParams::FormElicitationParams {
+                                meta: None,
+                                message: "please fill in".to_owned(),
+                                requested_schema: rmcp::model::ElicitationSchema::new(
+                                    std::collections::BTreeMap::new(),
+                                ),
+                            },
+                        response_tx,
+                    };
+                    let _ = self.elic_tx.send(event).await;
+                    // Block until select! cancels this future (simulates the MCP server
+                    // waiting for a response). Cancellation drops unblock_rx, causing
+                    // this await to resolve with Err — but the future is already dropped
+                    // by then. On re-invocation unblock_rx is None, so we skip blocking.
+                    let rx = self.unblock_rx.lock().unwrap().take();
+                    if let Some(rx) = rx {
+                        let _ = rx.await;
+                    }
+                }
+                Ok(Some(ToolOutput {
+                    tool_name: "elicit_tool".into(),
+                    summary: "result".into(),
+                    blocks_executed: 1,
+                    filter_stats: None,
+                    diff: None,
+                    streamed: false,
+                    terminal_id: None,
+                    locations: None,
+                    raw_response: None,
+                    claim_source: None,
+                }))
+            }
+        }
+
+        let (elic_tx, elic_rx) = mpsc::channel::<ElicitationEvent>(4);
+        // Keep _unblock_tx alive for the duration of the test so that unblock_rx.await
+        // truly blocks (channel not closed) until the future holding it is cancelled.
+        let (_unblock_tx, unblock_rx) = oneshot::channel::<()>();
+
+        let (mock, _counter) = MockProvider::default().with_tool_use(vec![
+            tool_use_response("call-elic", "elicit_tool"),
+            ChatResponse::Text("done".into()),
+        ]);
+        let provider = AnyProvider::Mock(mock);
+        let channel = MockChannel::new(vec![]);
+        let registry = create_test_registry();
+        let executor = BlockingElicitingExecutor {
+            elic_tx,
+            unblock_rx: Arc::new(std::sync::Mutex::new(Some(unblock_rx))),
+            sent: Arc::new(std::sync::atomic::AtomicBool::new(false)),
+        };
+
+        let mut agent = Agent::new(provider, channel, registry, None, 5, executor)
+            .with_mcp_elicitation_rx(elic_rx);
+
+        // A 5-second timeout turns a deadlock into a clear test failure instead of a hang.
+        let result = tokio::time::timeout(
+            Duration::from_secs(5),
+            agent.run_inline_tool_loop("trigger elicitation", 10),
+        )
+        .await
+        .expect("run_inline_tool_loop timed out — elicitation deadlock not fixed")
+        .unwrap();
+
+        assert_eq!(result, "done");
+    }
 }
 
 #[cfg(test)]