From 90807da61f3b5f18560ec33cec033f5052ff9fe1 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Nicholas Blumhardt <nblumhardt+ro@datalust.co>
Date: Tue, 20 Oct 2026 14:14:30 +1000
Subject: [PATCH] Include the Seq instance title in MCP server info and server
 instructions, so that human users and agents can distinguish between MCP
 servers running over multiple different Seq instances.

Assisted-by: Claude:claude-opus-5-5
---
 src/SeqCli/Cli/Commands/Mcp/RunCommand.cs     | 42 ++++++++++++++++++-
 .../Mcp/McpInstanceTitleTestCase.cs           | 34 +++++++++++++++
 2 files changed, 74 insertions(+), 2 deletions(-)
 create mode 100644 test/SeqCli.EndToEnd/Mcp/McpInstanceTitleTestCase.cs

diff --git a/src/SeqCli/Cli/Commands/Mcp/RunCommand.cs b/src/SeqCli/Cli/Commands/Mcp/RunCommand.cs
index 109b2265..684fde51 100644
--- a/src/SeqCli/Cli/Commands/Mcp/RunCommand.cs
+++ b/src/SeqCli/Cli/Commands/Mcp/RunCommand.cs
@@ -13,9 +13,14 @@
 // limitations under the License.
 
 using System;
+using System.Reflection;
+using System.Threading;
 using System.Threading.Tasks;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;
 using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;
+using ModelContextProtocol.Protocol;
+using Seq.Api;
+using Seq.Api.Model.Settings;
 using SeqCli.Api;
 using SeqCli.Cli.Features;
 using SeqCli.Config;
@@ -65,10 +70,25 @@ protected override async Task<int> Run()
 
             var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(new HostApplicationBuilderSettings { DisableDefaults = true });
             builder.Services.AddSerilog();
-            builder.Services.AddSingleton(_ => SeqConnectionFactory.Connect(_connection, config));
+            var connection = SeqConnectionFactory.Connect(_connection, config);
+            var instanceTitle = await TryGetInstanceTitleAsync(connection);
+
+            builder.Services.AddSingleton(connection);
             builder.Services.AddSingleton<McpSession>();
             builder.Services
-                .AddMcpServer()
+                .AddMcpServer(options =>
+                {
+                    var identity = instanceTitle != null ? $"Seq ({instanceTitle})" : "Seq";
+                    var assemblyName = Assembly.GetEntryAssembly()?.GetName();
+                    options.ServerInfo = new Implementation
+                    {
+                        Name = identity,
+                        Version = assemblyName?.Version?.ToString() ?? "0.0.0"
+                    };
+
+                    if (instanceTitle != null)
+                        options.ServerInstructions = $"Connected to {identity}";
+                })
                 .WithStdioServerTransport()
                 .WithTools([
                     typeof(SearchTools),
@@ -91,4 +111,22 @@ protected override async Task<int> Run()
         }
         return 0;
     }
+
+    static async Task<string?> TryGetInstanceTitleAsync(SeqConnection connection)
+    {
+        try
+        {
+            // Not really any good options, here - we might have a 1-2 second deadline for first-turn availability,
+            // and 30-60 second absolute deadline. It's likely the call will be subsecond, but if we miss the first
+            // turn, might as well keep waiting, the tool won't work if Seq is down, anyway.
+            using var cts = new CancellationTokenSource(TimeSpan.FromSeconds(20));
+            var setting = await connection.Settings.FindNamedAsync(SettingName.InstanceTitle, cts.Token);
+            return setting.Value is string title && !string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(title) ? title.Trim() : null;
+        }
+        catch (Exception ex)
+        {
+            Log.Information(ex, "Could not retrieve the Seq instance title");
+            return null;
+        }
+    }
 }
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/test/SeqCli.EndToEnd/Mcp/McpInstanceTitleTestCase.cs b/test/SeqCli.EndToEnd/Mcp/McpInstanceTitleTestCase.cs
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..e221aadd
--- /dev/null
+++ b/test/SeqCli.EndToEnd/Mcp/McpInstanceTitleTestCase.cs
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+using System.Threading.Tasks;
+using ModelContextProtocol.Client;
+using Seq.Api;
+using Seq.Api.Model.Settings;
+using SeqCli.EndToEnd.Support;
+using Serilog;
+using Xunit;
+
+namespace SeqCli.EndToEnd.Mcp;
+
+// ReSharper disable once UnusedType.Global
+public class McpInstanceTitleTestCase : ICliTestCase
+{
+    public async Task ExecuteAsync(SeqConnection connection, ILogger logger, CliCommandRunner runner)
+    {
+        const string instanceTitle = "Test Instance";
+
+        var setting = await connection.Settings.FindNamedAsync(SettingName.InstanceTitle);
+        setting.Value = instanceTitle;
+        await connection.Settings.UpdateAsync(setting);
+
+        var transport = new StdioClientTransport(new StdioClientTransportOptions
+        {
+            Name = "seqcli mcp run",
+            Command = "dotnet",
+            Arguments = [TestConfiguration.TestedBinary, "mcp", "run", $"--server={connection.Client.ServerUrl}"]
+        });
+
+        await using var client = await McpClient.CreateAsync(transport);
+
+        Assert.EndsWith($" ({instanceTitle})", client.ServerInfo.Name);
+        Assert.Equal($"Connected to Seq ({instanceTitle})", client.ServerInstructions);
+    }
+}