[Bug]: Grok threads do not load grok.com connectors from grok /mcps #14175

Before submitting

• I searched existing issues and did not find a duplicate.
• I included enough detail to reproduce or investigate the problem.

Area

apps/server

Steps to reproduce

1. On grok.com/connectors, connect an account connector (Notion is enough). Confirm it in an interactive grok session with /mcps. It shows up as a managed gateway server, for example managed_gateway:notion, status ready.
2. On the same machine and Grok account, grok mcp list --json prints [] when ~/.grok/config.toml has no [mcp_servers.*] entries.
3. Open a T3 Code thread whose provider is Grok (full access). This build spawns grok agent --always-approve stdio with GROK_OAUTH2_REFERRER=t3code.
4. Ask that thread to use the connector, or inspect the MCP servers attached to the session.

Same result outside T3, which isolates the entrypoint. grok agent --always-approve stdio, then ACP initialize / authenticate / session/new with mcpServers: []:

• The debug log says the session was created with 0 MCP servers.
• It never logs Fetched managed MCP gateway tool catalog.
• ACP x.ai/mcp/list returns -32601 Method not found.
• Sending _meta.clientType = grok-pager on that stdio session does not start the fetch either.

managed_mcps.gateway_tools_enabled was already true (GROK_MANAGED_MCP_GATEWAY_TOOLS_ENABLED). That does not make grok agent fetch the catalog.

Expected behavior

A T3 Grok thread on this account can call the same grok.com connectors that grok /mcps shows as ready. T3 keeps injecting its own t3-code server on top of that list.

Actual behavior

The T3 thread only has the t3-code MCP server. Notion, GitHub, Finance, Automations, and X Money never become tools.

Interactive grok /mcps on 2026-09-28, same account, after the pager logged Fetched managed MCP gateway tool catalog count=161:

grok mcp list does not show these. The user guide says grok mcp enable / disable is not /mcps parity for gateway connectors (managed_gateway:… stays Space-only in the TUI).

Cause

Grok has two lists.

• Local and compat servers live in ~/.grok/config.toml and Claude/Cursor compat files. grok mcp list, grok agent, and a T3 session all see this list. Here it is empty.
• grok.com connectors are a managed gateway catalog. Only the interactive pager fetches it and serves it through in-process x.ai/mcp/list. The binary also requires a gateway client to call them (Managed MCP gateway tool '…' is indexed but no gateway client is available).

T3 never starts the pager. Full access uses grokAcpSpawnArgs → ["agent", "--always-approve", "stdio"] in apps/server/src/provider/acp/GrokAcpSupport.ts. GROK_OAUTH2_REFERRER=t3code is OAuth attribution. apps/server/src/provider/Layers/GrokAdapter.ts puts one HTTP server on ACP session/new: t3-code. That add is on top of whatever the CLI already loaded (admit_client_mcp_servers on Grok 1.0.40+). The CLI loaded nothing from the gateway catalog, so the thread ends with t3-code only.

Orchestrator V2 does not change this path. On t3code/codex-turn-mapping (#2829), grokAcpSpawnArgs is still grok agent stdio, and AcpAdapterV2 attaches only the t3-code bridge. The V2 MCP doc says Grok receives T3's endpoint through session/new mcpServers. It does not fetch grok.com connectors.

Fix

The break is in the Grok CLI entrypoint T3 is required to use.

1. In grok agent session startup, fetch the managed gateway catalog and construct the gateway client whenever managed_mcps.gateway_tools_enabled is on. The pager and x.ai/mcp/list cannot be the only loader. ACP clientType=grok-pager is not a switch for this.
2. Leave T3's session/new additive. Once the agent loads the catalog, t3-code and the connectors coexist. A strict-MCP spawn (feat(grok): let a t3-started Grok session run with only the MCP servers t3 declares #12914) has to stay opt-in, or it drops these connectors again.

T3 cannot paper over this by copying /mcps rows into mcpServers. Those ids are gateway tools, not stdio/HTTP servers, and there is no URL to inject.

Impact

Major degradation or frequent failure

Version or commit

T3 Code 0.0.43-nightly.20260922.2123 (orchestrator V1: src/orchestration/Layers/OrchestrationEngine.ts). Grok CLI 1.0.41 (4220f3b224a6).

Environment

Linux. Provider Grok. Same Grok account in the TUI and in T3.

Logs or stack traces

grok mcp list --json
[]

# interactive grok --debug, after /mcps
Fetched managed MCP gateway tool catalog count=161

# grok agent --always-approve stdio
Session created with 0 MCP servers
x.ai/mcp/list -> {"code":-32601,"message":"Method not found"}

Workaround

grok mcp add writes a normal stdio or HTTP server into ~/.grok/config.toml. grok agent inherits that list, so T3 will see it. That is a second setup. It does not turn on the grok.com connector from /mcps.

Not a duplicate

• feat(grok): let a t3-started Grok session run with only the MCP servers t3 declares #12914 asks for the opposite: a T3 Grok session that inherits fewer local/compat servers and contains only what T3 declares.
• Please integrate a Notion view #408 was a Notion view inside T3.
• Discussion Environment-level MCP servers (and later rules/skills) shared by every provider and account #14118 asks T3 to inject user-declared stdio/HTTP servers into every provider. It does not load this catalog.