diff --git a/eslint.config.js b/eslint.config.js
index e639e689..f35d4f35 100644
--- a/eslint.config.js
+++ b/eslint.config.js
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ export default tseslint.config(
     // Global ignores
     ignores: [
       'node_modules/*',
+      '.integration-tests/**',
       'eslint.config.js',
       'packages/cli/dist/**',
       'packages/core/dist/**',
diff --git a/integration-tests/mcp_server_cyclic_schema.test.js b/integration-tests/mcp_server_cyclic_schema.test.js
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..a78e0922
--- /dev/null
+++ b/integration-tests/mcp_server_cyclic_schema.test.js
@@ -0,0 +1,206 @@
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+/**
+ * This test verifies we can match maximum schema depth errors from Gemini
+ * and then detect and warn about the potential tools that caused the error.
+ */
+
+import { test, describe, before } from 'node:test';
+import { strict as assert } from 'node:assert';
+import { TestRig } from './test-helper.js';
+import { join } from 'path';
+import { fileURLToPath } from 'url';
+import { writeFileSync, readFileSync } from 'fs';
+
+const __dirname = fileURLToPath(new URL('.', import.meta.url));
+
+// Create a minimal MCP server that doesn't require external dependencies
+// This implements the MCP protocol directly using Node.js built-ins
+const serverScript = `#!/usr/bin/env node
+/**
+ * @license
+ * Copyright 2025 Google LLC
+ * SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+ */
+
+const readline = require('readline');
+const fs = require('fs');
+
+// Debug logging to stderr (only when MCP_DEBUG or VERBOSE is set)
+const debugEnabled = process.env.MCP_DEBUG === 'true' || process.env.VERBOSE === 'true';
+function debug(msg) {
+  if (debugEnabled) {
+    fs.writeSync(2, \`[MCP-DEBUG] \${msg}\\n\`);
+  }
+}
+
+debug('MCP server starting...');
+
+// Simple JSON-RPC implementation for MCP
+class SimpleJSONRPC {
+  constructor() {
+    this.handlers = new Map();
+    this.rl = readline.createInterface({
+      input: process.stdin,
+      output: process.stdout,
+      terminal: false
+    });
+
+    this.rl.on('line', (line) => {
+      debug(\`Received line: \${line}\`);
+      try {
+        const message = JSON.parse(line);
+        debug(\`Parsed message: \${JSON.stringify(message)}\`);
+        this.handleMessage(message);
+      } catch (e) {
+        debug(\`Parse error: \${e.message}\`);
+      }
+    });
+  }
+
+  send(message) {
+    const msgStr = JSON.stringify(message);
+    debug(\`Sending message: \${msgStr}\`);
+    process.stdout.write(msgStr + '\\n');
+  }
+
+  async handleMessage(message) {
+    if (message.method && this.handlers.has(message.method)) {
+      try {
+        const result = await this.handlers.get(message.method)(message.params || {});
+        if (message.id !== undefined) {
+          this.send({
+            jsonrpc: '2.0',
+            id: message.id,
+            result
+          });
+        }
+      } catch (error) {
+        if (message.id !== undefined) {
+          this.send({
+            jsonrpc: '2.0',
+            id: message.id,
+            error: {
+              code: -32603,
+              message: error.message
+            }
+          });
+        }
+      }
+    } else if (message.id !== undefined) {
+      this.send({
+        jsonrpc: '2.0',
+        id: message.id,
+        error: {
+          code: -32601,
+          message: 'Method not found'
+        }
+      });
+    }
+  }
+
+  on(method, handler) {
+    this.handlers.set(method, handler);
+  }
+}
+
+// Create MCP server
+const rpc = new SimpleJSONRPC();
+
+// Handle initialize
+rpc.on('initialize', async (params) => {
+  debug('Handling initialize request');
+  return {
+    protocolVersion: '2024-11-05',
+    capabilities: {
+      tools: {}
+    },
+    serverInfo: {
+      name: 'cyclic-schema-server',
+      version: '1.0.0'
+    }
+  };
+});
+
+// Handle tools/list
+rpc.on('tools/list', async () => {
+  debug('Handling tools/list request');
+  return {
+    tools: [{
+      name: 'tool_with_cyclic_schema',
+      inputSchema: {
+        type: 'object',
+        properties: {
+          data: {
+            type: 'array',
+            items: {
+              type: 'object',
+              properties: {
+                child: { $ref: '#/properties/data/items' },
+              },
+            },
+          },
+        },
+      }
+    }]
+  };
+});
+
+// Send initialization notification
+rpc.send({
+  jsonrpc: '2.0',
+  method: 'initialized'
+});
+`;
+
+describe('mcp server with cyclic tool schema is detected', () => {
+  const rig = new TestRig();
+
+  before(async () => {
+    // Setup test directory with MCP server configuration
+    await rig.setup('cyclic-schema-mcp-server', {
+      settings: {
+        mcpServers: {
+          'cyclic-schema-server': {
+            command: 'node',
+            args: ['mcp-server.cjs'],
+          },
+        },
+      },
+    });
+
+    // Create server script in the test directory
+    const testServerPath = join(rig.testDir, 'mcp-server.cjs');
+    writeFileSync(testServerPath, serverScript);
+
+    // Make the script executable (though running with 'node' should work anyway)
+    if (process.platform !== 'win32') {
+      const { chmodSync } = await import('fs');
+      chmodSync(testServerPath, 0o755);
+    }
+  });
+
+  test('should error and suggest disabling the cyclic tool', async () => {
+    // Just run any command to trigger the schema depth error.
+    // If this test starts failing, check `isSchemaDepthError` from
+    // geminiChat.ts to see if it needs to be updated.
+    // Or, possibly it could mean that gemini has fixed the issue.
+    const output = await rig.run('hello');
+
+    // The error message is in a log file, so we need to extract the path and read it.
+    const match = output.match(/Full report available at: (.*\.json)/);
+    assert(match, `Could not find log file path in output: ${output}`);
+
+    const logFilePath = match[1];
+    const logFileContent = readFileSync(logFilePath, 'utf-8');
+
+    assert.match(
+      logFileContent,
+      / - tool_with_cyclic_schema \(cyclic-schema-server MCP Server\)/,
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/integration-tests/test-helper.js b/integration-tests/test-helper.js
index 9526ea5f..e4d55631 100644
--- a/integration-tests/test-helper.js
+++ b/integration-tests/test-helper.js
@@ -258,6 +258,11 @@ export class TestRig {
 
             result = filteredLines.join('\n');
           }
+          // If we have stderr output, include that also
+          if (stderr) {
+            result += `\n\nStdErr:\n${stderr}`;
+          }
+
           resolve(result);
         } else {
           reject(new Error(`Process exited with code ${code}:\n${stderr}`));
diff --git a/packages/core/src/core/geminiChat.ts b/packages/core/src/core/geminiChat.ts
index c0e41b5e..5f5b22e8 100644
--- a/packages/core/src/core/geminiChat.ts
+++ b/packages/core/src/core/geminiChat.ts
@@ -300,16 +300,14 @@ export class GeminiChat {
       };
 
       response = await retryWithBackoff(apiCall, {
-        shouldRetry: (error: Error) => {
-          // Check for likely cyclic schema errors, don't retry those.
-          if (error.message.includes('maximum schema depth exceeded'))
-            return false;
-          // Check error messages for status codes, or specific error names if known
-          if (error && error.message) {
+        shouldRetry: (error: unknown) => {
+          // Check for known error messages and codes.
+          if (error instanceof Error && error.message) {
+            if (isSchemaDepthError(error.message)) return false;
             if (error.message.includes('429')) return true;
             if (error.message.match(/5\d{2}/)) return true;
           }
-          return false;
+          return false; // Don't retry other errors by default
         },
         onPersistent429: async (authType?: string, error?: unknown) =>
           await this.handleFlashFallback(authType, error),
@@ -419,12 +417,10 @@ export class GeminiChat {
       // the stream. For simple 429/500 errors on initial call, this is fine.
       // If errors occur mid-stream, this setup won't resume the stream; it will restart it.
       const streamResponse = await retryWithBackoff(apiCall, {
-        shouldRetry: (error: Error) => {
-          // Check for likely cyclic schema errors, don't retry those.
-          if (error.message.includes('maximum schema depth exceeded'))
-            return false;
-          // Check error messages for status codes, or specific error names if known
-          if (error && error.message) {
+        shouldRetry: (error: unknown) => {
+          // Check for known error messages and codes.
+          if (error instanceof Error && error.message) {
+            if (isSchemaDepthError(error.message)) return false;
             if (error.message.includes('429')) return true;
             if (error.message.match(/5\d{2}/)) return true;
           }
@@ -689,10 +685,7 @@ export class GeminiChat {
   private async maybeIncludeSchemaDepthContext(error: unknown): Promise<void> {
     // Check for potentially problematic cyclic tools with cyclic schemas
     // and include a recommendation to remove potentially problematic tools.
-    if (
-      isStructuredError(error) &&
-      error.message.includes('maximum schema depth exceeded')
-    ) {
+    if (isStructuredError(error) && isSchemaDepthError(error.message)) {
       const tools = (await this.config.getToolRegistry()).getAllTools();
       const cyclicSchemaTools: string[] = [];
       for (const tool of tools) {
@@ -714,3 +707,8 @@ export class GeminiChat {
     }
   }
 }
+
+/** Visible for Testing */
+export function isSchemaDepthError(errorMessage: string): boolean {
+  return errorMessage.includes('maximum schema depth exceeded');
+}