fix(core): persist taxonomies field on content_create/content_update MCP tools

.changeset/slow-donuts-hide.md

@@ -0,0 +1,5 @@
+---
+"emdash": patch
+---
+
+Fixes `content_create` and `content_update` MCP tools silently ignoring the `taxonomies` field. Both tools now accept a `taxonomies` object keyed by taxonomy name (e.g. `{ category: ["porady"], tag: ["ai", "seo"] }`), with each value a list of term slugs or ids, and persist the assignments.

packages/core/src/api/handlers/content.ts

@@ -635,6 +635,7 @@ export async function handleContentCreate(
 		status?: string;
 		authorId?: string;
 		bylines?: ContentBylineInput[];
+		taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 		locale?: string;
 		translationOf?: string;
 		seo?: ContentSeoInput;
@@ -726,6 +727,14 @@ export async function handleContentCreate(
 				}
 			}
 
+			// Explicit body.taxonomies wins per taxonomy name over whatever
+			// copyEntryTerms just inherited from the translation source.
+			if (body.taxonomies !== undefined) {
+				const { TaxonomyRepository } = await import("../../database/repositories/taxonomy.js");
+				const taxRepo = new TaxonomyRepository(trx);
+				await taxRepo.setTaxonomiesForEntry(collection, created.id, body.taxonomies);
+			}
+
 			await hydrateBylines(trx, collection, created);
 
 			// Side-write SEO data if provided
@@ -813,6 +822,7 @@ export async function handleContentUpdate(
 		status?: string;
 		authorId?: string | null;
 		bylines?: ContentBylineInput[];
+		taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 		locale?: string;
 		_rev?: string;
 		seo?: ContentSeoInput;
@@ -893,6 +903,12 @@ export async function handleContentUpdate(
 				updated.primaryBylineId = credits[0]?.byline.translationGroup ?? null;
 			}
 
+			if (body.taxonomies !== undefined) {
+				const { TaxonomyRepository } = await import("../../database/repositories/taxonomy.js");
+				const taxRepo = new TaxonomyRepository(trx);
+				await taxRepo.setTaxonomiesForEntry(collection, resolvedId, body.taxonomies);
+			}
+
 			// Create auto-redirect when slug changes
 			if (oldSlug && body.slug) {
 				await createSlugChangeRedirect(trx, collection, oldSlug, body.slug, resolvedId);

packages/core/src/astro/types.ts

@@ -266,6 +266,7 @@ export interface EmDashHandlers {
 			status?: string;
 			authorId?: string;
 			bylines?: Array<{ bylineId: string; roleLabel?: string | null }>;
+			taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 			locale?: string;
 			translationOf?: string;
 			createdAt?: string | null;
@@ -282,6 +283,7 @@ export interface EmDashHandlers {
 			status?: string;
 			authorId?: string | null;
 			bylines?: Array<{ bylineId: string; roleLabel?: string | null }>;
+			taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 			locale?: string;
 			seo?: {
 				title?: string | null;

packages/core/src/database/repositories/taxonomy.ts

@@ -358,6 +358,41 @@ export class TaxonomyRepository {
 		if (toRemove.length > 0 || toAdd.length > 0) invalidateTaxonomyObjectCache();
 	}
 
+	/**
+	 * Resolve a term reference within a taxonomy to its translation_group.
+	 * Accepts either a term id/translation_group (matched globally, same as
+	 * `resolveTranslationGroup`) or a slug (matched scoped to `taxonomyName`,
+	 * since slugs are only unique per-taxonomy). Returns null if neither matches.
+	 */
+	async resolveTermRef(taxonomyName: string, idOrSlug: string): Promise<string | null> {
+		const group = await this.resolveTranslationGroup(idOrSlug);
+		if (group) return group;
+		const bySlug = await this.findBySlug(taxonomyName, idOrSlug);
+		return bySlug ? (bySlug.translationGroup ?? bySlug.id) : null;
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Replace term assignments across multiple taxonomies for one content
+	 * entry, keyed by taxonomy name (e.g. `{ category: ["porady"], tag: ["ai", "seo"] }`).
+	 * Each ref may be a term id or a slug. Taxonomy names/refs that don't
+	 * resolve are silently skipped, matching `setTermsForEntry`'s existing
+	 * lenient handling of unresolvable ids.
+	 */
+	async setTaxonomiesForEntry(
+		collection: string,
+		entryId: string,
+		taxonomies: Record<string, string[]>,
+	): Promise<void> {
+		for (const [taxonomyName, refs] of Object.entries(taxonomies)) {
+			const resolved: string[] = [];
+			for (const ref of refs) {
+				const group = await this.resolveTermRef(taxonomyName, ref);
+				if (group) resolved.push(group);
+			}
+			await this.setTermsForEntry(collection, entryId, taxonomyName, resolved);
+		}
+	}
+
 	async clearEntryTerms(collection: string, entryId: string): Promise<number> {
 		const result = await this.db
 			.deleteFrom("content_taxonomies")

packages/core/src/emdash-runtime.ts

@@ -2538,6 +2538,7 @@ export class EmDashRuntime {
 			status?: string;
 			authorId?: string;
 			bylines?: Array<{ bylineId: string; roleLabel?: string | null }>;
+			taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 			locale?: string;
 			translationOf?: string;
 		},
@@ -2597,6 +2598,7 @@ export class EmDashRuntime {
 			status?: string;
 			authorId?: string | null;
 			bylines?: Array<{ bylineId: string; roleLabel?: string | null }>;
+			taxonomies?: Record<string, string[]>;
 			seo?: {
 				title?: string | null;
 				description?: string | null;

packages/core/src/mcp/server.ts

@@ -660,6 +660,12 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					.describe(
 						"Bylines to credit. Each entry references an existing byline by id (see byline_list / byline_create) with an optional roleLabel. The first entry becomes the primary byline.",
 					),
+				taxonomies: z
+					.record(z.string(), z.array(z.string()))
+					.optional()
+					.describe(
+						"Taxonomy term assignments, keyed by taxonomy name (e.g. 'category', 'tag'). Each value is an array of term slugs or ids (see taxonomy_list_terms). Replaces any assignments for the named taxonomies.",
+					),
 			}),
 			annotations: { destructiveHint: false },
 		},
@@ -698,6 +704,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					locale: args.locale,
 					translationOf: args.translationOf,
 					bylines: args.bylines,
+					taxonomies: args.taxonomies,
 				});
 				if (!result.success) return unwrap(result);
 				const itemId = extractContentId(result.data);
@@ -715,6 +722,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					locale: args.locale,
 					translationOf: args.translationOf,
 					bylines: args.bylines,
+					taxonomies: args.taxonomies,
 				}),
 			);
 		},
@@ -771,6 +779,12 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					.describe(
 						"Replace the byline list for this item. The first entry becomes the primary byline. Pass an empty array to clear all bylines.",
 					),
+				taxonomies: z
+					.record(z.string(), z.array(z.string()))
+					.optional()
+					.describe(
+						"Taxonomy term assignments to replace, keyed by taxonomy name (e.g. 'category', 'tag'). Each value is an array of term slugs or ids (see taxonomy_list_terms). Taxonomy names not included are left unchanged; pass an empty array to clear a taxonomy.",
+					),
 				publishedAt: z.iso
 					.datetime({ offset: true, message: "must be an ISO 8601 datetime" })
 					.nullish()
@@ -823,6 +837,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					args.slug ||
 					args.seo !== undefined ||
 					args.bylines !== undefined ||
+					args.taxonomies !== undefined ||
 					args.publishedAt !== undefined
 				) {
 					const updateResult = await emdash.handleContentUpdate(args.collection, resolvedId, {
@@ -832,6 +847,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 						locale: args.locale,
 						seo: args.seo,
 						bylines: args.bylines,
+						taxonomies: args.taxonomies,
 						publishedAt: args.publishedAt,
 						_rev: args._rev,
 					});
@@ -847,6 +863,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					args.slug ||
 					args.seo !== undefined ||
 					args.bylines !== undefined ||
+					args.taxonomies !== undefined ||
 					args.publishedAt !== undefined
 				) {
 					const updateResult = await emdash.handleContentUpdate(args.collection, resolvedId, {
@@ -856,6 +873,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 						locale: args.locale,
 						seo: args.seo,
 						bylines: args.bylines,
+						taxonomies: args.taxonomies,
 						publishedAt: args.publishedAt,
 						_rev: args._rev,
 					});
@@ -872,6 +890,7 @@ export function createMcpServer(): McpServer {
 					locale: args.locale,
 					seo: args.seo,
 					bylines: args.bylines,
+					taxonomies: args.taxonomies,
 					publishedAt: args.publishedAt,
 					_rev: args._rev,
 				}),

packages/core/tests/integration/mcp/content-taxonomies.test.ts

@@ -0,0 +1,112 @@
+/**
+ * MCP content_create / content_update taxonomy assignment.
+ *
+ * Regression for #953: `taxonomies` was silently ignored by both tools —
+ * accepted without error but never persisted. Mirrors the `bylines` argument
+ * added alongside content_create/content_update (see bylines.test.ts).
+ */
+
+import { Role } from "@emdash-cms/auth";
+import type { Kysely } from "kysely";
+import { afterEach, beforeEach, describe, expect, it } from "vitest";
+
+import { TaxonomyRepository } from "../../../src/database/repositories/taxonomy.js";
+import type { Database } from "../../../src/database/types.js";
+import {
+	connectMcpHarness,
+	extractJson,
+	extractText,
+	isErrorResult,
+	type McpHarness,
+} from "../../utils/mcp-runtime.js";
+import { setupTestDatabaseWithCollections, teardownTestDatabase } from "../../utils/test-db.js";
+
+const ADMIN_ID = "user_admin";
+
+describe("MCP content_create / content_update taxonomies", () => {
+	let db: Kysely<Database>;
+	let harness: McpHarness;
+	let taxRepo: TaxonomyRepository;
+
+	beforeEach(async () => {
+		db = await setupTestDatabaseWithCollections();
+		taxRepo = new TaxonomyRepository(db);
+		harness = await connectMcpHarness({ db, userId: ADMIN_ID, userRole: Role.ADMIN });
+	});
+
+	afterEach(async () => {
+		if (harness) await harness.cleanup();
+		await teardownTestDatabase(db);
+	});
+
+	it("content_create persists taxonomy assignments by slug", async () => {
+		const category = await taxRepo.create({ name: "category", slug: "porady", label: "Porady" });
+		const ai = await taxRepo.create({ name: "tag", slug: "ai", label: "AI" });
+		const seo = await taxRepo.create({ name: "tag", slug: "seo", label: "SEO" });
+
+		const created = await harness.client.callTool({
+			name: "content_create",
+			arguments: {
+				collection: "post",
+				data: { title: "Tagged Post" },
+				taxonomies: { category: ["porady"], tag: ["ai", "seo"] },
+			},
+		});
+		expect(created.isError, extractText(created)).toBeFalsy();
+		const id = extractJson<{ item: { id: string } }>(created).item.id;
+
+		const categories = await taxRepo.getTermsForEntry("post", id, "category");
+		expect(categories.map((t) => t.id)).toEqual([category.id]);
+
+		const tags = await taxRepo.getTermsForEntry("post", id, "tag");
+		expect(tags.map((t) => t.id).toSorted()).toEqual([ai.id, seo.id].toSorted());
+	});
+
+	it("content_update persists taxonomy assignments by id and replaces prior ones", async () => {
+		const category = await taxRepo.create({ name: "category", slug: "news", label: "News" });
+		const oldTag = await taxRepo.create({ name: "tag", slug: "old", label: "Old" });
+		const newTag = await taxRepo.create({ name: "tag", slug: "new", label: "New" });
+
+		const created = await harness.client.callTool({
+			name: "content_create",
+			arguments: {
+				collection: "post",
+				data: { title: "Retag Post" },
+				taxonomies: { category: [category.id], tag: [oldTag.id] },
+			},
+		});
+		expect(created.isError, extractText(created)).toBeFalsy();
+		const id = extractJson<{ item: { id: string } }>(created).item.id;
+
+		const updated = await harness.client.callTool({
+			name: "content_update",
+			arguments: {
+				collection: "post",
+				id,
+				taxonomies: { tag: [newTag.id] },
+			},
+		});
+		expect(updated.isError, extractText(updated)).toBeFalsy();
+
+		// `tag` was replaced; `category` was omitted from the update, so it's unchanged.
+		const tags = await taxRepo.getTermsForEntry("post", id, "tag");
+		expect(tags.map((t) => t.id)).toEqual([newTag.id]);
+		const categories = await taxRepo.getTermsForEntry("post", id, "category");
+		expect(categories.map((t) => t.id)).toEqual([category.id]);
+	});
+
+	it("unresolvable term refs are silently skipped, not an error", async () => {
+		const result = await harness.client.callTool({
+			name: "content_create",
+			arguments: {
+				collection: "post",
+				data: { title: "Bad Ref Post" },
+				taxonomies: { category: ["does-not-exist"] },
+			},
+		});
+		expect(isErrorResult(result)).toBe(false);
+		const id = extractJson<{ item: { id: string } }>(result).item.id;
+		const categories = await taxRepo.getTermsForEntry("post", id, "category");
+		expect(categories).toEqual([]);
+	});
+});