diff --git a/src/lib/mcp/__tests__/tool-failure.test.ts b/src/lib/mcp/__tests__/tool-failure.test.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..aa8a232c3
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/mcp/__tests__/tool-failure.test.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,79 @@
+/**
+ * A tool that throws answers with a fixed sentence and a code, never with the
+ * exception's own text.
+ *
+ * Without the wrap the SDK hands the model `error.message`, which for a
+ * database failure is Prisma's prose: the query, the columns, sometimes a value
+ * from the record. The detail belongs in the operator's log.
+ */
+import { describe, expect, it, vi } from "vitest";
+
+const event = vi.hoisted(() => ({
+  setError: vi.fn(),
+  getRequestId: () => "req-123",
+}));
+
+vi.mock("@/lib/db", () => ({
+  prisma: {
+    ecgRecording: {
+      findMany: vi.fn(async () => {
+        throw new Error(
+          "Invalid `prisma.ecgRecording.findMany()` invocation: column ecg_recordings.waveform_encrypted does not exist (value: 4711)",
+        );
+      }),
+    },
+  },
+}));
+vi.mock("@/lib/logging/context", () => ({
+  annotate: vi.fn(),
+  getEvent: () => event,
+}));
+
+process.env.APP_URL = "http://localhost";
+
+import { Client } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/index.js";
+import { InMemoryTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/inMemory.js";
+import { createMcpServer } from "../server";
+import { MCP_TOOL_FAILED } from "../tool-failure";
+import type { McpAuthContext } from "../auth";
+
+const ctx: McpAuthContext = {
+  userId: "u-1",
+  tokenId: "t-1",
+  scopes: ["health:read"],
+  binding: "u-1:t-1",
+  canRead: true,
+  canWrite: false,
+};
+
+describe("a failing tool", () => {
+  it("tells the model a fixed sentence, a code and the request id, and logs the cause", async () => {
+    const server = createMcpServer(ctx);
+    const client = new Client({ name: "failure-test", version: "1.0.0" });
+    const [clientSide, serverSide] = InMemoryTransport.createLinkedPair();
+    await Promise.all([server.connect(serverSide), client.connect(clientSide)]);
+
+    const result = (await client.callTool({
+      name: "get_ecg_recordings",
+      arguments: {},
+    })) as { isError?: boolean; content: Array<{ text: string }> };
+    await client.close();
+    await server.close();
+
+    expect(result.isError).toBe(true);
+    const text = result.content.map((c) => c.text).join("\n");
+    expect(text).not.toMatch(/prisma|invocation|column|waveform|4711/i);
+    const body = JSON.parse(text) as {
+      error: { code: string; message: string; requestId?: string };
+    };
+    expect(body.error.code).toBe(MCP_TOOL_FAILED);
+    expect(body.error.requestId).toBe("req-123");
+    expect(body.error.message).toContain("get_ecg_recordings");
+
+    // The cause went to the event, which redacts it on the way to the log.
+    expect(event.setError).toHaveBeenCalledWith(expect.any(Error));
+    expect((event.setError.mock.calls[0][0] as Error).message).toContain(
+      "findMany",
+    );
+  });
+});
diff --git a/src/lib/mcp/server.ts b/src/lib/mcp/server.ts
index 19826bde9..df85f3f2a 100644
--- a/src/lib/mcp/server.ts
+++ b/src/lib/mcp/server.ts
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import { MCP_RESOURCES, MCP_RESOURCE_TEMPLATES } from "./resources";
 import { MCP_PROMPTS } from "./prompts";
 import { resolveBaseOrigin } from "./oauth/config";
 import { advertiseToolSchemasAs2020 } from "./schema-dialect";
+import { toolFailure } from "./tool-failure";
 
 export const MCP_SERVER_NAME = "healthlog";
 export const MCP_SERVER_VERSION = "1.0.0";
@@ -102,7 +103,12 @@ export function createMcpServer(ctx: McpAuthContext): McpServer {
         ...(tool.outputShape ? { outputSchema: tool.outputShape } : {}),
       },
       async (args: Record<string, unknown>) => {
-        const result = await tool.run(ctx, args ?? {});
+        let result: unknown;
+        try {
+          result = await tool.run(ctx, args ?? {});
+        } catch (error) {
+          return toolFailure(tool.name, error);
+        }
         const content = [
           { type: "text" as const, text: JSON.stringify(result) },
         ];
diff --git a/src/lib/mcp/tool-failure.ts b/src/lib/mcp/tool-failure.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..92930da88
--- /dev/null
+++ b/src/lib/mcp/tool-failure.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,52 @@
+/**
+ * What a model is told when a tool fails, and what the operator is told.
+ *
+ * A tool that threw was answered by the MCP SDK with the exception's own
+ * message as the result text, so a database failure reached the model, and
+ * through it the person's chat, as Prisma's prose: the query shape, the
+ * column names, sometimes a value from the record. That text is for the
+ * operator. The model gets a fixed sentence it can relay, a stable code to
+ * branch on, and the request id that finds the event in the log; the
+ * exception goes to the wide event, through the same redaction every other
+ * error takes.
+ */
+import { annotate, getEvent } from "@/lib/logging/context";
+
+/** The code a failed tool call carries in its MCP result (not an HTTP `meta.errorCode`). */
+export const MCP_TOOL_FAILED = "mcp.tool.failed";
+
+export function toolFailure(
+  toolName: string,
+  error: unknown,
+): {
+  isError: true;
+  content: Array<{ type: "text"; text: string }>;
+} {
+  const evt = getEvent();
+  const requestId = evt?.getRequestId() ?? null;
+  if (evt) {
+    evt.setError(error);
+    annotate({
+      action: { name: "mcp.tool.failed" },
+      meta: { tool: toolName },
+    });
+  } else {
+    // The stdio entrypoint runs outside a request, and stderr is its log.
+    console.error(`HealthLog MCP: tool ${toolName} failed`, error);
+  }
+  return {
+    isError: true,
+    content: [
+      {
+        type: "text",
+        text: JSON.stringify({
+          error: {
+            code: MCP_TOOL_FAILED,
+            message: `The ${toolName} tool could not complete this request. Try again later; if it keeps failing, the operator can find the failure by its request id.`,
+            ...(requestId ? { requestId } : {}),
+          },
+        }),
+      },
+    ],
+  };
+}