From cd3ed36a719e8bf41a24390b9e9f229ef60f281c Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Koen Van Geert <koen@Koens-MacBook-Air.local>
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 2026 21:18:13 +0200
Subject: [PATCH] fix(client): handle cleanup rejection after initialization
 failure

---
 .../fix-client-connect-cleanup-rejection.md   |  5 +++
 src/client/index.ts                           |  4 +-
 test/client/connect-cleanup.test.ts           | 24 ++++++++++
 test/client/fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts       | 44 +++++++++++++++++++
 4 files changed, 75 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 .changeset/fix-client-connect-cleanup-rejection.md
 create mode 100644 test/client/connect-cleanup.test.ts
 create mode 100644 test/client/fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts

diff --git a/.changeset/fix-client-connect-cleanup-rejection.md b/.changeset/fix-client-connect-cleanup-rejection.md
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..0d11dcb192
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.changeset/fix-client-connect-cleanup-rejection.md
@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+'@modelcontextprotocol/sdk': patch
+---
+
+Handle cleanup rejections when client initialization fails, preserving the original initialization error without an unhandled rejection or waiting for cleanup to finish.
diff --git a/src/client/index.ts b/src/client/index.ts
index ae0e698ec3..5fddddef6d 100644
--- a/src/client/index.ts
+++ b/src/client/index.ts
@@ -509,8 +509,8 @@ export class Client<
                 this._pendingListChangedConfig = undefined;
             }
         } catch (error) {
-            // Disconnect if initialization fails.
-            void this.close();
+            // Disconnect without delaying or replacing the initialization error if cleanup fails.
+            void this.close().catch(() => undefined);
             throw error;
         }
     }
diff --git a/test/client/connect-cleanup.test.ts b/test/client/connect-cleanup.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..a0ae4473f0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/client/connect-cleanup.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,24 @@
+import { spawnSync } from 'node:child_process';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'node:url';
+
+for (const cleanup of ['resolve', 'reject', 'deferred-reject', 'pending']) {
+    test(`given ${cleanup} cleanup, when initialization fails, then connect preserves the error without an unhandled rejection`, () => {
+        const child = spawnSync(
+            process.execPath,
+            [
+                '--unhandled-rejections=strict',
+                '--import',
+                'tsx',
+                fileURLToPath(new URL('./fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts', import.meta.url)),
+                cleanup
+            ],
+            { encoding: 'utf8', timeout: 10_000 }
+        );
+
+        expect(child.error).toBeUndefined();
+        expect(child.signal).toBeNull();
+        expect(child.status, child.stdout + child.stderr).toBe(0);
+        expect(child.stderr).toBe('');
+        expect(child.stdout).toBe('Original initialization error preserved; cleanup rejection handled.\n');
+    });
+}
diff --git a/test/client/fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts b/test/client/fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..4d28a286fa
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/client/fixtures/connect-cleanup.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,44 @@
+import assert from 'node:assert/strict';
+import { setImmediate } from 'node:timers/promises';
+import { Client } from '../../../src/client/index.js';
+import { StreamableHTTPClientTransport } from '../../../src/client/streamableHttp.js';
+
+const cleanup = process.argv[2];
+assert.ok(['resolve', 'reject', 'deferred-reject', 'pending'].includes(cleanup));
+
+const initializationError = new TypeError('Initialization fetch failed');
+const cleanupError = new Error('Connection cleanup failed');
+let initializeRequests = 0;
+const transport = new StreamableHTTPClientTransport(new URL('https://example.test/mcp'), {
+    fetch: async () => {
+        initializeRequests++;
+        throw initializationError;
+    }
+});
+const client = new Client({ name: 'cleanup-regression', version: '1.0.0' });
+const originalClose = client.close.bind(client);
+let closeCalls = 0;
+let finishCleanup: (() => void) | undefined;
+client.close = async () => {
+    closeCalls++;
+    await originalClose();
+    if (cleanup === 'pending') {
+        await new Promise<void>(resolve => {
+            finishCleanup = resolve;
+        });
+    }
+    if (cleanup === 'deferred-reject') await setImmediate();
+    if (cleanup === 'reject' || cleanup === 'deferred-reject') throw cleanupError;
+};
+
+await assert.rejects(client.connect(transport), error => error === initializationError);
+assert.equal(initializeRequests, 1);
+assert.equal(closeCalls, 1);
+if (cleanup === 'pending') {
+    assert.ok(finishCleanup, 'connect must reject without waiting for cleanup to finish');
+    finishCleanup();
+}
+// Cross the unhandled-rejection checkpoint, including delayed cleanup failures.
+await setImmediate();
+await setImmediate();
+process.stdout.write('Original initialization error preserved; cleanup rejection handled.\n');