Skip to content

Fix flaky tests in TestChildProcessCleanup (test_stdio.py) #1775

@maxisbey

Description

@maxisbey

Initial Checks

Description

Three tests in TestChildProcessCleanup are flaky. They fail intermittently on macOS (darwin) with the same root cause: the child process hasn't started writing to the marker file before the assertion checks.

Affected tests:

  • TestChildProcessCleanup.test_basic_child_process_cleanup
  • TestChildProcessCleanup.test_nested_process_tree
  • TestChildProcessCleanup.test_early_parent_exit

CI evidence: Tests observed failing on 2025-11-12 and continue to be flaky.

Output:

________ TestChildProcessCleanup.test_basic_child_process_cleanup ________
[gw9] darwin -- Python 3.11.14

    async def test_basic_child_process_cleanup(self):
        ...
        # Verify child is writing
        if os.path.exists(marker_file):  # pragma: no branch
            initial_size = os.path.getsize(marker_file)
            await anyio.sleep(0.3)
            size_after_wait = os.path.getsize(marker_file)
>           assert size_after_wait > initial_size, "Child process should be writing"
E           AssertionError: Child process should be writing
E           assert 0 > 0

tests/client/test_stdio.py:310: AssertionError
________ TestChildProcessCleanup.test_nested_process_tree ________
[gw9] darwin -- Python 3.11.14

>           assert new_size > initial_size, f"{name} process should be writing"
E           AssertionError: parent process should be writing
E           assert 0 > 0

tests/client/test_stdio.py:413: AssertionError
________ TestChildProcessCleanup.test_early_parent_exit ________
[gw9] darwin -- Python 3.11.14

>           assert size2 > size1, "Child should be writing"
E           AssertionError: Child should be writing
E           assert 0 > 0

tests/client/test_stdio.py:494: AssertionError

Python & MCP Python SDK

Python 3.11.14, macOS (darwin)
Latest SDK version

AI Disclaimer

Metadata

Metadata

Assignees

No one assigned

    Labels

    P3Nice to haves, rare edge casesbugSomething isn't working

    Type

    No type

    Projects

    No projects

    Milestone

    No milestone

    Relationships

    None yet

    Development

    No branches or pull requests

    Issue actions