diff --git a/mcp/common/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/mcp/McpToolUtils.java b/mcp/common/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/mcp/McpToolUtils.java
index 1e051dbb0d3..5925f1ebfbe 100644
--- a/mcp/common/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/mcp/McpToolUtils.java
+++ b/mcp/common/src/main/java/org/springframework/ai/mcp/McpToolUtils.java
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
 
 import java.util.List;
 
+import io.micrometer.common.util.StringUtils;
 import io.modelcontextprotocol.client.McpAsyncClient;
 import io.modelcontextprotocol.client.McpSyncClient;
 import io.modelcontextprotocol.server.McpServerFeatures;
@@ -58,12 +59,12 @@ private McpToolUtils() {
 
 	public static String prefixedToolName(String prefix, String toolName) {
 
-		String input = prefix + "-" + toolName;
-
-		if (input == null || input.isEmpty()) {
-			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Input string cannot be null or empty");
+		if (StringUtils.isEmpty(prefix) || StringUtils.isEmpty(toolName)) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException("Prefix or toolName cannot be null or empty");
 		}
 
+		String input = prefix + "-" + toolName;
+
 		// Replace any character that isn't alphanumeric, underscore, or hyphen with
 		// concatenation
 		String formatted = input.replaceAll("[^a-zA-Z0-9_-]", "");