Hmbown/CodeWhale · warning · anyhow::Error

MCP server '{name}' connection to '{host}' requires approval

Error message

MCP server '{name}' connection to '{host}' requires approval; re-run after `/network allow {host}` or set network.default = "allow" in config

What it means

The same network-policy gate as the Deny case, but the decider returned Prompt: the host is neither allowed nor denied and the default posture requires interactive approval before this host may be contacted (crates/tui/src/mcp.rs:1499-1504). Because connect_with_policy does not prompt interactively, it fails immediately with the remediation embedded in the message.

Source

Thrown at crates/tui/src/mcp.rs:1500

                Arc::clone(&authority_revocation_reason),
            )
        });
        let transport: Box<dyn McpTransport> = if let Some(url) = &config.url {
            // Per-domain network policy gate (#135). Only the HTTP/SSE transport
            // is gated; STDIO MCP servers run as local subprocesses and never
            // touch the network from this code path.
            if let Some(decider) = network_policy
                && let Some(host) = host_from_url(url)
            {
                match decider.evaluate(&host, "mcp") {
                    Decision::Allow => {}
                    Decision::Deny => {
                        anyhow::bail!(
                            "MCP server '{name}' connection to '{host}' blocked by network policy"
                        );
                    }
                    Decision::Prompt => {
                        anyhow::bail!(
                            "MCP server '{name}' connection to '{host}' requires approval; \
                             re-run after `/network allow {host}` or set network.default = \"allow\" in config"
                        );
                    }
                }
            }
            // Honor the standard `HTTP_PROXY` / `HTTPS_PROXY` (and their
            // lowercase equivalents) plus `NO_PROXY` env vars when
            // reaching MCP HTTP servers (#1408). Reqwest 0.13 does not
            // auto-detect these by default, so users behind corporate
            // proxies, on China-mainland connections routing through a
            // local Clash / Shadowsocks tunnel, etc. previously had MCP
            // HTTP traffic bypass the proxy entirely while every other
            // tool on the box (curl, npm, …) used it.
            // `connect_timeout` bounds only the connect phase; the total request
            // timeout is the read timeout (a sane backstop) so per-call
            // execute_timeout can actually govern request duration. Previously
            // this set reqwest's TOTAL `.timeout()` from connect_timeout (10s),

View on GitHub (pinned to 8880682c63)

Solutions

1. Run /network allow <host> in the session, then retry the operation.
2. Or set [network] default = "allow" in ~/.codewhale/config.toml to stop prompting globally (a weaker posture - prefer per-host allows).
3. For scripts/CI, pre-allowlist the exact MCP hosts before starting the run.

Example fix

# before: connect fails
#   MCP server 'linear' connection to 'mcp.linear.app' requires approval
# after (session-scoped): run in the TUI, then retry
#   /network allow mcp.linear.app
# after (config, ~/.codewhale/config.toml):
#   [network]
#   default = "allow"

// Before connecting under a prompt-default posture, confirm the host is
// already allowlisted for this session (via /network allow <host>).
use crate::network_policy::{host_from_url, Decision};

fn host_preapproved(policy: &NetworkPolicyDecider, url: &str) -> bool {
    match host_from_url(url) {
        Some(host) => !matches!(policy.evaluate(&host, "mcp"), Decision::Prompt | Decision::Deny),
        None => false,
    }
}

When it happens

Trigger: First connection to a new remote MCP host under the default prompt posture; the host has not been added to the session allow list.

Common situations: Fresh installs; newly added servers in config; scripted or CI contexts where nobody can answer an interactive prompt.

Related errors

• MCP server '{name}' connection to '{host}' blocked by networ
• Timed out waiting for MCP JSON-RPC response from server '{}'
• GET timeout
• MCP SSE connect cancelled before the request completed
• Could not inspect GitHub Release ${tag}: ${detail}

AI-assisted analysis of Hmbown/CodeWhale@8880682c63 (2026-08-16). Data as JSON: /api/errors/6d7e30e61adb8942. Report an issue: GitHub.