Clear Thought 1.5

# Critical Bug Report: Session Persistence Failure **Date:** 2025-09-24 **Severity:** Critical **Component:** Sequential Thinking Tool / Session Management **Status:** Active ## Problem Summary The Clear Thought MCP server fails to maintain session state across multiple tool calls, making multi-step reasoning impossible. Each call to `sequentialthinking` creates a new session rather than continuing an existing one, breaking the core value proposition of the system. ## Evidence ### Test Case 1: Sequential Thought Chain ```bash # Call 1 thought: "I need to solve database optimization" thoughtNumber: 1, totalThoughts: 4 Response sessionId: "0df45688-3c4d-4ff6-ab51-3a4a8b95e882" Response totalThoughts: 1 (✓ correct) # Call 2 (should continue same session) thought: "First, analyze query patterns" thoughtNumber: 2, totalThoughts: 4 Response sessionId: "bf273e60-cd60-4a7d-ad71-3521c19b0ae1" (❌ NEW SESSION!) Response totalThoughts: 1 (❌ should be 2) ``` ### Expected vs Actual Behavior | Aspect | Expected | Actual | Impact | |--------|----------|---------|---------| | Session Continuity | Same sessionId across calls | New sessionId each call | No state persistence | | Thought Accumulation | totalThoughts: 1, 2, 3, 4... | totalThoughts: 1, 1, 1, 1... | No sequence building | | Context Awareness | Access to previous thoughts | Only current thought visible | No multi-step reasoning | | Recent Thoughts | Growing history | Single thought only | No chain of reasoning | ## Root Cause Hypothesis Based on code analysis of `src/tools/sequential-thinking.ts:31-34`, the issue appears to be in session instantiation: 1. **MCP Protocol Level**: Each tool call may be creating a new server instance 2. **SessionState Factory**: The `SessionState` constructor may not be receiving/using a persistent session identifier 3. **Tool Registration**: The tool handler may not have access to cross-call session persistence ## Impact Assessment **Critical System Failure:** - Multi-step reasoning: **BROKEN** ❌ - Sequential thinking chains: **BROKEN** ❌ - Thought branching/revision: **BROKEN** ❌ - Advanced reasoning patterns: **PARTIALLY BROKEN** ❌ - Individual patterns work but can't build on previous context **User Experience:** - Cannot build complex reasoning chains - Each thought exists in isolation - Advanced patterns operate on single-thought context only - System appears to work but provides no cumulative value ## Reproduction Steps 1. Call `mcp__clear-thought__sequentialthinking` with thoughtNumber: 1 2. Note the returned sessionId 3. Call again with thoughtNumber: 2 4. Observe different sessionId and totalThoughts: 1 instead of 2 ## Priority Justification This is a **critical system failure** because: - The entire value proposition depends on multi-step reasoning - Users cannot accomplish the primary use case - The bug is not immediately obvious, leading to user confusion - All reasoning tools likely affected by the same root cause ## Next Steps Required 1. **Architecture Investigation**: Examine how SessionState is instantiated and managed 2. **MCP Protocol Analysis**: Understand session lifecycle in MCP servers 3. **Solution Design**: Specify persistence mechanism (memory, storage, or protocol-level) 4. **Implementation Plan**: Define changes needed for session continuity