fix: prevent CLI commands from hanging on exit (#471)

Signed-off-by: phernandez <paul@basicmachines.co>
Co-authored-by: Claude Opus 4.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

src/basic_memory/mcp/async_client.py

@@ -95,6 +95,7 @@ async def get_client() -> AsyncIterator[AsyncClient]:
                 yield client
         else:
             # Local mode: ASGI transport for in-process calls
+            # Note: ASGI transport does NOT trigger FastAPI lifespan, so no special handling needed
             logger.info("Creating ASGI client for local Basic Memory API")
             async with AsyncClient(
                 transport=ASGITransport(app=fastapi_app), base_url="http://test", timeout=timeout

src/basic_memory/mcp/server.py

@@ -2,8 +2,80 @@
 Basic Memory FastMCP server.
 """
 
+import asyncio
+import os
+from contextlib import asynccontextmanager
+
 from fastmcp import FastMCP
+from loguru import logger
+
+from basic_memory import db
+from basic_memory.config import ConfigManager
+from basic_memory.services.initialization import initialize_app, initialize_file_sync
+
+
+@asynccontextmanager
+async def lifespan(app: FastMCP):
+    """Lifecycle manager for the MCP server.
+
+    Handles:
+    - Database initialization and migrations
+    - File sync in background (if enabled and not in cloud mode)
+    - Proper cleanup on shutdown
+    """
+    app_config = ConfigManager().config
+    logger.info("Starting Basic Memory MCP server")
+
+    # Track if we created the engine (vs test fixtures providing it)
+    # This prevents disposing an engine provided by test fixtures when
+    # multiple Client connections are made in the same test
+    engine_was_none = db._engine is None
+
+    # Initialize app (runs migrations, reconciles projects)
+    await initialize_app(app_config)
+
+    # Start file sync as background task (if enabled and not in cloud mode)
+    sync_task = None
+    is_test_env = (
+        app_config.env == "test"
+        or os.getenv("BASIC_MEMORY_ENV", "").lower() == "test"
+        or os.getenv("PYTEST_CURRENT_TEST") is not None
+    )
+    if is_test_env:
+        logger.info("Test environment detected - skipping local file sync")
+    elif app_config.sync_changes and not app_config.cloud_mode_enabled:
+        logger.info("Starting file sync in background")
+
+        async def _file_sync_runner() -> None:
+            await initialize_file_sync(app_config)
+
+        sync_task = asyncio.create_task(_file_sync_runner())
+    elif app_config.cloud_mode_enabled:
+        logger.info("Cloud mode enabled - skipping local file sync")
+    else:
+        logger.info("Sync changes disabled - skipping file sync")
+
+    try:
+        yield
+    finally:
+        # Shutdown
+        logger.info("Shutting down Basic Memory MCP server")
+        if sync_task:
+            sync_task.cancel()
+            try:
+                await sync_task
+            except asyncio.CancelledError:
+                logger.info("File sync task cancelled")
+
+        # Only shutdown DB if we created it (not if test fixture provided it)
+        if engine_was_none:
+            await db.shutdown_db()
+            logger.info("Database connections closed")
+        else:
+            logger.debug("Skipping DB shutdown - engine provided externally")
+
 
 mcp = FastMCP(
     name="Basic Memory",
+    lifespan=lifespan,
 )