test: MCP verification harness + bump SDK floor to ^1.29.0 (#202)

Bump the declared @modelcontextprotocol/sdk floor from ^1.25.3 to ^1.29.0 to
match the version the lockfile already resolved, readying the server for the
upcoming MCP RC protocol revision. McpServer construction, tool registration,
and the stdio transport use current SDK APIs and are unchanged.

Add an end-to-end verification harness that drives the real server over an
in-memory transport with the SDK client: initialize + protocol negotiation, the
full registered tool surface (core + Alliance), and a round-trip tool call. The
protocol assertions key off the SDK's LATEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION, so pinning the RC
SDK re-runs the check with no test edits.

Sync the SDK version references in README, PACKAGE_SPLIT_EVAL, and CHANGELOG.

Author: timon0305

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -8,8 +8,13 @@ Tagged releases are published to npm from GitHub Actions when a **GitHub Release
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+### Added
+
+- **Tests:** MCP verification harness ([src/__tests__/mcp-rc-readiness.test.ts](src/__tests__/mcp-rc-readiness.test.ts)) that drives the real server over an in-memory transport with the SDK client (initialize and protocol negotiation, the full registered tool surface, and a round-trip tool call), so a future SDK or MCP protocol bump is verified in one place. Protocol assertions key off the SDK's `LATEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION`, so pinning the RC SDK re-runs the check with no test edits. (#202)
+
 ### Changed
 
+- **Dependencies:** Bumped the declared `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` floor from `^1.25.3` to `^1.29.0` to match the resolved version and ready the server for the upcoming MCP RC protocol revision. `McpServer` construction, tool registration, and the stdio transport are unchanged and re-verified by the harness above. (#202)
 - **Instructions:** Trimmed operator/install/deploy content (env-var setup, misconfiguration note, Alliance CLI index/rerank defaults, stderr logging config) from `CORE_SERVER_INSTRUCTIONS` and `ALLIANCE_INSTRUCTIONS_APPENDIX` — reduces per-session token cost; no behavior change. Replaced colliding Alliance appendix steps 4–5 with unnumbered "Manual Alliance flow" bullets (includes `PINECONE_DISABLE_SUGGEST_FLOW=true` escape clause). Full detail remains in [docs/CONFIGURATION.md](docs/CONFIGURATION.md).
 
 ## [0.4.0] - 2026-06-24

README.md

@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
 [![License: BSL-1.0](https://img.shields.io/badge/License-BSL--1.0-blue.svg)](https://opensource.org/licenses/BSL-1.0)
 [![CI](https://github.com/cppalliance/pinecone-read-only-mcp-typescript/workflows/CI/badge.svg)](https://github.com/cppalliance/pinecone-read-only-mcp-typescript/actions)
 
-A [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) (MCP) server that implements the MCP specification via `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` v1.25+ and provides semantic search over Pinecone vector databases using hybrid search (dense + sparse) with reranking.
+A [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) (MCP) server that implements the MCP specification via `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` v1.29+ and provides semantic search over Pinecone vector databases using hybrid search (dense + sparse) with reranking.
 
 Current version: 0.4.0 (npm `latest` after publish). Pin `@0.4.0` in install and MCP config for reproducible upgrades.
 

docs/PACKAGE_SPLIT_EVAL.md

@@ -182,7 +182,7 @@ Both packages would share the same four production dependencies from the root `p
 
 | Dependency | Current range | Alignment note |
 | ---------- | ------------- | -------------- |
-| `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` | `^1.25.3` | MCP protocol surface; must stay aligned across core and Alliance |
+| `@modelcontextprotocol/sdk` | `^1.29.0` | MCP protocol surface; must stay aligned across core and Alliance |
 | `@pinecone-database/pinecone` | `^7.1.0` | Client API used by `PineconeClient`; core owns the wrapper |
 | `dotenv` | `^17.2.3` | Env loading in config resolvers |
 | `zod` | `^4.3.6` | Tool input schemas and response validation |

package-lock.json

@@ -73,7 +73,7 @@
     "prepack": "npm run build"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.25.3",
+    "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.29.0",
     "@pinecone-database/pinecone": "^8.0.0",
     "dotenv": "^17.2.3",
     "zod": "^4.3.6"