diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 8965e47..6d637ca 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -7,6 +7,10 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ## [Unreleased]
 
+## [0.2.3] - 2026-02-01
+
+- Harden MCP request handling
+
 ## [0.2.2] - 2026-02-01
 
 - Fix MCP tool naming for Claude Desktop
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index c06602b..7716f3c 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -194,22 +194,22 @@ Your code takes those arguments, calls mermkit, and sends the result back. The L
 
 ### MCP compatibility
 
-mermkit ships an MCP server over stdio. Any MCP-compatible host (Claude Desktop, Cursor, etc.) can use it directly.
+mermkit ships an MCP server over stdio. Any MCP-compatible host can use it directly.
 
-**Claude Desktop configuration:**
+**MCP host configuration (example):**
 
 ```json
 {
   "mcpServers": {
     "mermkit": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["@mermkit/cli", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "@mermkit/cli@0.2.3", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }
 ```
 
-Once connected, the host gains access to the same five tools listed above. In MCP hosts that restrict tool names, they are exposed as `mermkit_render`, `mermkit_renderBatch`, `mermkit_extract`, `mermkit_term`, and `mermkit_schema`. The MCP server reuses the same rendering and extraction logic as `serve` — it is a format translation layer (JSON-RPC 2.0) with no additional dependencies.
+Once connected, the host gains access to the same five tools listed above. For hosts that restrict tool names, they are exposed as `mermkit_render`, `mermkit_renderBatch`, `mermkit_extract`, `mermkit_term`, and `mermkit_schema`. The MCP server reuses the same rendering and extraction logic as `serve` — it is a format translation layer (JSON-RPC 2.0) with no additional dependencies.
 
 ## Preview server
 
diff --git a/bindings/python/pyproject.toml b/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
index f7a792a..b30ea06 100644
--- a/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
+++ b/bindings/python/pyproject.toml
@@ -4,7 +4,7 @@ build-backend = "hatchling.build"
 
 [project]
 name = "mermkit"
-version = "0.2.2"
+version = "0.2.3"
 description = "Python bindings for mermkit (Mermaid rendering toolkit)"
 readme = "README.md"
 requires-python = ">=3.8"
diff --git a/bindings/rust/Cargo.toml b/bindings/rust/Cargo.toml
index bcb6360..bb159eb 100644
--- a/bindings/rust/Cargo.toml
+++ b/bindings/rust/Cargo.toml
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 [package]
 name = "mermkit"
-version = "0.2.2"
+version = "0.2.3"
 edition = "2021"
 description = "Rust bindings for mermkit (Mermaid rendering toolkit)"
 license = "MIT"
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index a9cf026..b170c1b 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 {
   "name": "mermkit",
   "private": true,
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/MermaidKit/mermkit.git"
diff --git a/packages/adapters/package.json b/packages/adapters/package.json
index f7379b9..ee0d625 100644
--- a/packages/adapters/package.json
+++ b/packages/adapters/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@mermkit/adapters",
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/MermaidKit/mermkit.git"
@@ -18,6 +18,6 @@
     "build": "tsc -b"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.2"
+    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.3"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/cli/package.json b/packages/cli/package.json
index e7e4af3..b6d12a0 100644
--- a/packages/cli/package.json
+++ b/packages/cli/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@mermkit/cli",
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/MermaidKit/mermkit.git"
@@ -19,8 +19,8 @@
     "build": "tsc -b"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.2",
-    "@mermkit/render": "0.2.2",
-    "@mermkit/adapters": "0.2.2"
+    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.3",
+    "@mermkit/render": "0.2.3",
+    "@mermkit/adapters": "0.2.3"
   }
 }
diff --git a/packages/cli/src/cli.ts b/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
index d97720b..53b10c9 100644
--- a/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
+++ b/packages/cli/src/cli.ts
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #!/usr/bin/env node
 
-import { watch } from "node:fs";
+import { readFileSync, watch } from "node:fs";
 import { mkdir, readFile, writeFile } from "node:fs/promises";
 import { spawn } from "node:child_process";
 import { createServer } from "node:http";
@@ -12,6 +12,8 @@ import { createHash } from "node:crypto";
 import { extractDiagrams, normalizeDiagram } from "@mermkit/core";
 import { render, renderForTerminal } from "@mermkit/render";
 
+const PACKAGE_VERSION = JSON.parse(readFileSync(new URL("../package.json", import.meta.url), "utf8")).version as string;
+
 type Flags = Record<string, string | boolean>;
 
 const [command, ...rest] = process.argv.slice(2);
@@ -753,11 +755,15 @@ function writeMcpResponse(response: JsonRpcResponse): void {
   stdout.write(`${JSON.stringify(response)}\n`);
 }
 
+function shouldRespondToId(id: unknown): id is string | number {
+  return typeof id === "string" || typeof id === "number";
+}
+
 function maybeWriteMcpResponse(
-  id: string | number | undefined,
+  id: unknown,
   response: Omit<JsonRpcResponse, "id">
 ): void {
-  if (typeof id !== "string" && typeof id !== "number") return;
+  if (!shouldRespondToId(id)) return;
   writeMcpResponse({ ...response, id });
 }
 
@@ -776,7 +782,8 @@ function getMcpToolNameMap(): Map<string, string> {
   return MCP_TOOL_NAME_MAP;
 }
 
-function resolveMcpToolName(name: string): string {
+function resolveMcpToolName(name: unknown): string | undefined {
+  if (typeof name !== "string") return undefined;
   if (name.includes(".")) return name;
   return getMcpToolNameMap().get(name) ?? name;
 }
@@ -799,10 +806,18 @@ async function cmdMcp(): Promise<void> {
     try {
       request = JSON.parse(trimmed) as JsonRpcRequest;
     } catch (error) {
+      stderr.write(`mcp parse error: ${errorMessage(error)}\n`);
       continue;
     }
 
     const id = request.id;
+    if (!request.method || typeof request.method !== "string") {
+      maybeWriteMcpResponse(id, {
+        jsonrpc: "2.0",
+        error: { code: -32600, message: "invalid request: missing method" }
+      });
+      continue;
+    }
 
     if (request.method === "initialize") {
       maybeWriteMcpResponse(id, {
@@ -810,7 +825,7 @@ async function cmdMcp(): Promise<void> {
         result: {
           protocolVersion: "2024-11-05",
           capabilities: { tools: {} },
-          serverInfo: { name: "mermkit", version: "0.1.0" }
+          serverInfo: { name: "mermkit", version: PACKAGE_VERSION }
         }
       });
       continue;
@@ -826,10 +841,13 @@ async function cmdMcp(): Promise<void> {
 
     if (request.method === "tools/call") {
       const params = request.params ?? {};
-      const toolName = resolveMcpToolName(params.name as string);
+      const toolName = resolveMcpToolName((params as { name?: unknown }).name);
       const toolInput = (params.input ?? {}) as Record<string, unknown>;
 
       try {
+        if (!toolName) {
+          throw new Error("invalid request: tools/call requires a tool name");
+        }
         const content = await executeMcpTool(toolName, toolInput);
         maybeWriteMcpResponse(id, { jsonrpc: "2.0", result: { content } });
       } catch (error) {
diff --git a/packages/core/package.json b/packages/core/package.json
index a5dcbd7..195b4b5 100644
--- a/packages/core/package.json
+++ b/packages/core/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@mermkit/core",
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/MermaidKit/mermkit.git"
diff --git a/packages/render/package.json b/packages/render/package.json
index 357d221..499fb55 100644
--- a/packages/render/package.json
+++ b/packages/render/package.json
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 {
   "name": "@mermkit/render",
-  "version": "0.2.2",
+  "version": "0.2.3",
   "repository": {
     "type": "git",
     "url": "https://github.com/MermaidKit/mermkit.git"
@@ -18,7 +18,7 @@
     "build": "tsc -b"
   },
   "dependencies": {
-    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.2"
+    "@mermkit/core": "0.2.3"
   },
   "optionalDependencies": {
     "dompurify": "^3.1.5",
diff --git a/site/index.html b/site/index.html
index 46e4153..1ca2843 100644
--- a/site/index.html
+++ b/site/index.html
@@ -493,19 +493,27 @@ <h2>MCP setup</h2>
 
     <div class="install-block">
       <div class="install-label">command</div>
-      <pre><code>npx @mermkit/cli mcp</code></pre>
+      <pre><code>npx -y @mermkit/cli@0.2.3 mcp</code></pre>
     </div>
     <div class="install-block">
-      <div class="install-label">Claude Desktop config</div>
+      <div class="install-label">MCP host config</div>
       <pre><code>{
   "mcpServers": {
     "mermkit": {
       "command": "npx",
-      "args": ["@mermkit/cli", "mcp"]
+      "args": ["-y", "@mermkit/cli@0.2.3", "mcp"]
     }
   }
 }</code></pre>
     </div>
+    <div class="install-block">
+      <div class="install-label">tool names</div>
+      <pre><code>mermkit_render
+mermkit_renderBatch
+mermkit_extract
+mermkit_term
+mermkit_schema</code></pre>
+    </div>
   </div>
 </section>