Context

arleo.eu runs on Hugo (KVM VM) → OpenResty (NUC) → Cloudflare (CDN/WAF). Goal: A+ score on Mozilla Observatory with a strict CSP that resists edge-side injections.

The journey went through three strategies over a few weeks — nonces, hashes, then origin allowlist — before landing on a stable, automated solution.

Act 1: why hash-based failed

The initial idea seemed solid: Hugo Pipes externalizes all JS with SRI, we list the hashes in the CSP, clean result. In practice, two problems made the approach impossible.

The bug

mcp-installer is a bash script I wrote to automate the installation of mcp-oauth-proxy (FastAPI + nginx + systemd) on a new host. Standard workflow: clone, run, done.

Except when re-running the script on an already installed host (e.g. to update the version), I discovered an idempotence bug: all secrets were regenerated.

$ sudo ./install.sh
[+] Generating MCP_TOKEN...
[+] Generating CLIENT_ID...
[+] Generating CLIENT_SECRET...
[+] Generating TOKEN_SECRET...
[+] Writing /etc/mcp-oauth-proxy/.env...

If you already have a .env with tokens in service, the installer overwrites them. All already-registered OAuth clients (Claude.ai in my case) end up with invalid credentials. Connection breaks.

Why it happened

The script used this logic:

MCP_TOKEN=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
CLIENT_ID=$(openssl rand -hex 16)
CLIENT_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)
TOKEN_SECRET=$(openssl rand -hex 32)

cat > /etc/mcp-oauth-proxy/.env <<EOF
MCP_TOKEN=$MCP_TOKEN
CLIENT_ID=$CLIENT_ID
CLIENT_SECRET=$CLIENT_SECRET
TOKEN_SECRET=$TOKEN_SECRET
EOF

The “generate then write” pattern is correct for first install. But on rerun, it completely ignores the existing .env.

It’s the classic mistake: the author (me) tested the script only on a fresh host. The “reinstall on existing host” mode was never tested.

Bug reproduction

$ sudo ./install.sh
[OK] Installation complete
$ cat /etc/mcp-oauth-proxy/.env | head -1
MCP_TOKEN=a7f3e9d2c4b8a1...

$ sudo ./install.sh
[OK] Installation complete
$ cat /etc/mcp-oauth-proxy/.env | head -1
MCP_TOKEN=8c2f6a1b9e4d7c...   ← DIFFERENT

Reproducible test in 30 seconds. Almost comical I didn’t catch it sooner.

The lesson: “idempotent” is a contract, not a hope

An installation script must be idempotent by default. Meaning: ./install.sh once, twice, five times → system in the same stable state.

I had this contract in my head. I didn’t have it in the code.

The fix: pre-flight checks + explicit force flag