Fix cache hit rate by making MCP tools order deterministic (#2611)

Fixes https://github.com/openai/codex/issues/2610

This PR sorts the tools in `get_openai_tools` by name to ensure a
consistent MCP tool order.

Currently, MCP servers are stored in a HashMap, which does not guarantee
ordering. As a result, the tool order changes across turns, effectively
breaking prompt caching in multi-turn sessions.

An alternative solution would be to replace the HashMap with an ordered
structure, but that would require a much larger code change. Given that
it is unrealistic to have so many MCP tools that sorting would cause
performance issues, this lightweight fix is chosen instead.

By ensuring deterministic tool order, this change should significantly
improve cache hit rates and prevent users from hitting usage limits too
quickly. (For reference, my own sessions last week reached the limit
unusually fast, with cache hit rates falling below 1%.)

## Result

After this fix, sessions with MCP servers now show caching behavior
almost identical to sessions without MCP servers.
Without MCP             |  With MCP
:-------------------------:|:-------------------------:
<img width="1368" height="1634" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/26edab45-7be8-4d6a-b471-558016615fc8"
/> | <img width="1356" height="1632" alt="image"
src="https://github.com/user-attachments/assets/5f3634e0-3888-420b-9aaf-deefd9397b40"
/>
This commit is contained in:
Uhyeon Park
2025-08-25 11:56:24 +09:00
committed by GitHub
parent 8b49346657
commit ee2ccb5cb6

View File

@@ -531,7 +531,12 @@ pub(crate) fn get_openai_tools(
}
if let Some(mcp_tools) = mcp_tools {
for (name, tool) in mcp_tools {
// Ensure deterministic ordering to maximize prompt cache hits.
// HashMap iteration order is non-deterministic, so sort by fully-qualified tool name.
let mut entries: Vec<(String, mcp_types::Tool)> = mcp_tools.into_iter().collect();
entries.sort_by(|a, b| a.0.cmp(&b.0));
for (name, tool) in entries.into_iter() {
match mcp_tool_to_openai_tool(name.clone(), tool.clone()) {
Ok(converted_tool) => tools.push(OpenAiTool::Function(converted_tool)),
Err(e) => {
@@ -710,6 +715,80 @@ mod tests {
);
}
#[test]
fn test_get_openai_tools_mcp_tools_sorted_by_name() {
let model_family = find_family_for_model("o3").expect("o3 should be a valid model family");
let config = ToolsConfig::new(
&model_family,
AskForApproval::Never,
SandboxPolicy::ReadOnly,
false,
false,
/*use_experimental_streamable_shell_tool*/ false,
);
// Intentionally construct a map with keys that would sort alphabetically.
let tools_map: HashMap<String, mcp_types::Tool> = HashMap::from([
(
"test_server/do".to_string(),
mcp_types::Tool {
name: "a".to_string(),
input_schema: ToolInputSchema {
properties: Some(serde_json::json!({})),
required: None,
r#type: "object".to_string(),
},
output_schema: None,
title: None,
annotations: None,
description: Some("a".to_string()),
},
),
(
"test_server/something".to_string(),
mcp_types::Tool {
name: "b".to_string(),
input_schema: ToolInputSchema {
properties: Some(serde_json::json!({})),
required: None,
r#type: "object".to_string(),
},
output_schema: None,
title: None,
annotations: None,
description: Some("b".to_string()),
},
),
(
"test_server/cool".to_string(),
mcp_types::Tool {
name: "c".to_string(),
input_schema: ToolInputSchema {
properties: Some(serde_json::json!({})),
required: None,
r#type: "object".to_string(),
},
output_schema: None,
title: None,
annotations: None,
description: Some("c".to_string()),
},
),
]);
let tools = get_openai_tools(&config, Some(tools_map));
// Expect shell first, followed by MCP tools sorted by fully-qualified name.
assert_eq_tool_names(
&tools,
&[
"shell",
"test_server/cool",
"test_server/do",
"test_server/something",
],
);
}
#[test]
fn test_mcp_tool_property_missing_type_defaults_to_string() {
let model_family = find_family_for_model("o3").expect("o3 should be a valid model family");