MCP Troubleshooting Guide

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MCP Troubleshooting Guide

When LiteLLM acts as an MCP proxy, traffic normally flows Client → LiteLLM Proxy → MCP Server, while OAuth-enabled setups add an authorization server for metadata discovery.

For provisioning steps, transport options, and configuration fields, refer to mcp.md.

Quick Start: Debug with One Command

The fastest way to debug MCP issues is to enable debug headers. Run this curl against your LiteLLM proxy and check the response headers:

curl -si -X POST http://localhost:4000/{your_mcp_server}/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "x-litellm-api-key: Bearer sk-YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "x-litellm-mcp-debug: true" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}' \
  2>&1 | grep -i "x-mcp-debug"

This returns masked diagnostic headers that tell you exactly what's happening with authentication:

x-mcp-debug-inbound-auth: x-litellm-api-key=Bearer****1234
x-mcp-debug-oauth2-token: Bearer****ef01
x-mcp-debug-auth-resolution: oauth2-passthrough
x-mcp-debug-outbound-url: https://mcp.atlassian.com/v1/mcp
x-mcp-debug-server-auth-type: oauth2

If you see SAME_AS_LITELLM_KEY in x-mcp-debug-oauth2-token, your LiteLLM API key is leaking to the MCP server instead of an OAuth2 token. See Debugging OAuth for the fix and other common issues.

For Claude Code, add the debug header to your MCP config:

claude mcp add --transport http my_server http://localhost:4000/my_mcp/mcp \
  --header "x-litellm-api-key: Bearer sk-..." \
  --header "x-litellm-mcp-debug: true"

Locate the Error Source

Pin down where the failure occurs before adjusting settings so you do not mix symptoms from separate hops.

LiteLLM UI / Playground Errors (LiteLLM → MCP)

Failures shown on the MCP creation form or within the MCP Tool Testing Playground mean the LiteLLM proxy cannot reach the MCP server. Typical causes are misconfiguration (transport, headers, credentials), MCP/server outages, network/firewall blocks, or inaccessible OAuth metadata.

<Image img={require('../img/mcp_tool_testing_playground.png')} style={{width: '80%', display: 'block', margin: '0'}} />

Actions

• Capture LiteLLM proxy logs alongside MCP-server logs (see Error Log Example) to inspect the request/response pair and stack traces.
• From the LiteLLM server, run a curl smoke test against the MCP endpoint to confirm basic connectivity.

Client Traffic Issues (Client → LiteLLM)

If only real client requests fail, determine whether LiteLLM ever reaches the MCP hop.

MCP Protocol Sessions

Clients such as IDEs or agent runtimes speak the MCP protocol directly with LiteLLM.

Actions

• Inspect LiteLLM access logs (see Access Log Example) to verify the client request reached the proxy and which MCP server it targeted.
• Review LiteLLM error logs (see Error Log Example) for TLS, authentication, or routing errors that block the request before the MCP call starts.
• Use the MCP Inspector to confirm the MCP server is reachable outside of the failing client.

Responses/Completions with Embedded MCP Calls

During /responses or /chat/completions, LiteLLM may trigger MCP tool calls mid-request. An error could occur before the MCP call begins or after the MCP responds.

Actions

• Check LiteLLM request logs (see Access Log Example) to see whether an MCP attempt was recorded; if not, the problem lies in Client → LiteLLM.
• Validate MCP connectivity with the MCP Inspector to ensure the server responds.
• Reproduce the same MCP call via the LiteLLM Playground to confirm LiteLLM can complete the MCP hop independently.

<Image img={require('../img/mcp_playground.png')} style={{width: '80%', display: 'block', margin: '0'}} />

OAuth Metadata Discovery

LiteLLM performs metadata discovery per the MCP spec (section 2.3). When OAuth is enabled, confirm the authorization server exposes the metadata URL and that LiteLLM can fetch it.

Actions

• Use curl <metadata_url> (or similar) from the LiteLLM host to ensure the discovery document is reachable and contains the expected authorization/token endpoints.
• Record the exact metadata URL, requested scopes, and any static client credentials so support can replay the discovery step if needed.

Debugging OAuth

For detailed OAuth2 debugging — including debug header reference, common misconfigurations, and example output — see Debugging OAuth.

Verify Connectivity

Run lightweight validations before impacting production traffic.

MCP Inspector

Use the MCP Inspector when you need to test both Client → LiteLLM and Client → MCP communications in one place; it makes isolating the failing hop straightforward.

1. Execute npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector on your workstation.
2. Configure and connect:
   • Transport Type: choose the transport the client uses (Streamable HTTP for LiteLLM).
   • URL: the endpoint under test (LiteLLM MCP URL for Client → LiteLLM, or the MCP server URL for Client → MCP).
   • Custom Headers: e.g., x-litellm-api-key: Bearer <LiteLLM API Key>.
3. Open the Tools tab and click List Tools to verify the MCP alias responds.

curl Smoke Test

curl is ideal on servers where installing the Inspector is impractical. It replicates the MCP tool call LiteLLM would make—swap in the domain of the system under test (LiteLLM or the MCP server).

curl -X POST https://your-target-domain.example.com/mcp \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -H "Accept: application/json, text/event-stream" \
  -d '{"jsonrpc":"2.0","id":1,"method":"tools/list","params":{}}'

Add -H "x-litellm-api-key: Bearer <LiteLLM API Key>" when the target is a LiteLLM endpoint that requires authentication. Adjust the headers or payload to target other MCP methods. Matching failures between curl and LiteLLM confirm that the MCP server or network/OAuth layer is the culprit.

Review Logs

Well-scoped logs make it clear whether LiteLLM reached the MCP server and what happened next.

Access Log Example (successful MCP call)

INFO:     127.0.0.1:57230 - "POST /everything/mcp HTTP/1.1" 200 OK

Error Log Example (failed MCP call)

07:22:00 - LiteLLM:ERROR: client.py:224 - MCP client list_tools failed - Error Type: ExceptionGroup, Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception), Server: http://localhost:3001/mcp, Transport: MCPTransport.http
  httpcore.ConnectError: All connection attempts failed
ERROR:LiteLLM:MCP client list_tools failed - Error Type: ExceptionGroup, Error: unhandled errors in a TaskGroup (1 sub-exception)...
  httpx.ConnectError: All connection attempts failed