Every agent MCP server is launched as `uv run python -m roboco.mcp.<server>`
(via the orchestrator-generated mcp-config.json) and the SDK server via
`uv run python -m roboco.agent_sdk.server` (sdk-startup-hook.sh) — both with
cwd = the agent's WORKSPACE, not /app. `uv run` then resolves a cwd-relative
`.venv` (≠ the image's baked /app/.venv), ignores VIRTUAL_ENV with a warning,
and RE-SYNCS the full dependency set (torch/lancedb/pyarrow/scipy, ~350MB)
into a fresh venv on every spawn.
A warm host uv wheel cache masks this (fast re-resolve from cached wheels —
earlier runs this session opened PR #26/#28/#29 fine). On a COLD cache (first
spawn after an image rebuild — exactly when deploying new fixes) the download
takes minutes, the MCP servers never register, and the agent burns its whole
budget with "No such tool available: mcp__roboco-*" before reaping. Observed
this session: be-dev-1 never claimed; /tmp/sdk-server.log showed the live
torch/lancedb download + the `VIRTUAL_ENV ... will be ignored` warning.
Fix: set UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=/app/.venv in (1) every MCP server's env in
the generated mcp-config.json (one place — shared mcp_env dict) and (2) the
SDK startup hook. uv then reuses the pre-baked image venv instantly,
regardless of cwd or cache state. Not a regression from this session's code
(none of #172b/#175/#176/#177/#178 touched the launch/venv path — verified);
a pre-existing launch-cwd fragility that rebuilding to deploy exposed.
Test: _generate_mcp_config asserts every server env pins
UV_PROJECT_ENVIRONMENT=/app/.venv. make quality green.
Smoke run 3 showed agents loading builtin Anthropic connectors
(mcp__claude_ai_Gmail__authenticate, Google Calendar, Notion, Drive)
alongside our 5 roboco MCP servers. The connectors bloat the tool
surface and give the LLM 'discover' targets it shouldn't have.
The Claude Code CLI's --strict-mcp-config flag tells it to load ONLY
the servers from --mcp-config, ignoring all builtin defaults. Added
to _append_image_and_claude_args next to --mcp-config.
Note: the existing --tools allowlist (Read,Write,Edit,Bash,Grep,Glob,
Task,TodoWrite) only filters builtin tools, not MCP-prefixed ones —
that's why the connectors slipped through.
Spec ref: docs/superpowers/specs/2026-05-12-post-smoke-3-fixes-design.md
section E3.
Renn F