From 4bbc4eec3b1c1a977930504b6a78e61c7426783c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Jeremiah Lowin <153965+jlowin@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Sun, 5 Apr 2026 10:36:38 -0400
Subject: [PATCH] fix: ResponseLimitingMiddleware no longer breaks outputSchema
 tools (#3756)

---
 .../server/middleware/response_limiting.py    | 18 ++++++++++---
 .../middleware/test_response_limiting.py      | 26 +++++++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 41 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/src/fastmcp/server/middleware/response_limiting.py b/src/fastmcp/server/middleware/response_limiting.py
index 3afaf0705..24e1cbc12 100644
--- a/src/fastmcp/server/middleware/response_limiting.py
+++ b/src/fastmcp/server/middleware/response_limiting.py
@@ -3,6 +3,7 @@
 from __future__ import annotations
 
 import logging
+from typing import Any
 
 import mcp.types as mt
 import pydantic_core
@@ -67,7 +68,11 @@ class ResponseLimitingMiddleware(Middleware):
         self.truncation_suffix = truncation_suffix
         self.tools = set(tools) if tools is not None else None
 
-    def _truncate_to_result(self, text: str) -> ToolResult:
+    def _truncate_to_result(
+        self,
+        text: str,
+        meta: dict[str, Any] | None = None,
+    ) -> ToolResult:
         """Truncate text to fit within max_size and wrap in ToolResult."""
         suffix_bytes = len(self.truncation_suffix.encode("utf-8"))
         # Account for JSON wrapper overhead: {"content":[{"type":"text","text":"..."}]}
@@ -88,7 +93,14 @@ class ResponseLimitingMiddleware(Middleware):
                     + self.truncation_suffix
                 )
 
-        return ToolResult(content=[TextContent(type="text", text=truncated)])
+        # Preserve original meta, falling back to {} when absent. Having
+        # meta set ensures to_mcp_result() returns a CallToolResult, which
+        # bypasses MCP SDK outputSchema validation — a truncated response
+        # is no longer valid structured output.
+        return ToolResult(
+            content=[TextContent(type="text", text=truncated)],
+            meta=meta if meta is not None else {},
+        )
 
     async def on_call_tool(
         self,
@@ -122,4 +134,4 @@ class ResponseLimitingMiddleware(Middleware):
             else serialized.decode("utf-8", errors="replace")
         )
 
-        return self._truncate_to_result(text)
+        return self._truncate_to_result(text, meta=result.meta)
diff --git a/tests/server/middleware/test_response_limiting.py b/tests/server/middleware/test_response_limiting.py
index b2c6cd810..bbf615c16 100644
--- a/tests/server/middleware/test_response_limiting.py
+++ b/tests/server/middleware/test_response_limiting.py
@@ -2,12 +2,18 @@
 
 import pytest
 from mcp.types import ImageContent, TextContent
+from pydantic import BaseModel
 
 from fastmcp import Client, FastMCP
 from fastmcp.server.middleware.response_limiting import ResponseLimitingMiddleware
 from fastmcp.tools.base import ToolResult
 
 
+# Regression test model for #3717
+class Answer(BaseModel):
+    text: str
+
+
 class TestResponseLimitingMiddleware:
     """Tests for ResponseLimitingMiddleware."""
 
@@ -143,6 +149,26 @@ class TestResponseLimitingMiddleware:
         with pytest.raises(ValueError, match="max_size must be positive"):
             ResponseLimitingMiddleware(max_size=-100)
 
+    async def test_truncation_does_not_break_output_schema_tools(
+        self, mcp_server: FastMCP
+    ):
+        """Truncating a tool with outputSchema must not cause validation errors.
+
+        Regression test for #3717: the MCP SDK rejects truncated results
+        from tools with outputSchema because structured_content is dropped.
+        We verify the server returns a successful (non-error) truncated result.
+        """
+        mcp_server.add_middleware(ResponseLimitingMiddleware(max_size=1_000))
+
+        @mcp_server.tool()
+        def big_answer() -> Answer:
+            return Answer(text="x" * 2_000)
+
+        result = await mcp_server.call_tool("big_answer", {})
+        first = result.content[0]
+        assert isinstance(first, TextContent)
+        assert "[Response truncated" in first.text
+
     def test_utf8_truncation_preserves_characters(self):
         """Test that UTF-8 truncation doesn't break multi-byte characters."""
         middleware = ResponseLimitingMiddleware(max_size=100)