diff --git a/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/http.py b/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/http.py
index 006988d58..132b33385 100644
--- a/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/http.py
+++ b/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/api/http.py
@@ -172,6 +172,23 @@ class RecallRequest(BaseModel):
         "Each group is a leaf {tags, match} or compound {and: [...]}, {or: [...]}, {not: ...}.",
     )
 
+    @field_validator("types", "tags", mode="before")
+    @classmethod
+    def coerce_string_to_list(cls, v: Any) -> Any:
+        """Coerce JSON-string arrays to list.
+
+        MCP tool bridges sometimes serialize JSON arrays as strings during
+        transport, e.g. '["world"]' instead of ["world"]. Parse them back.
+        """
+        if isinstance(v, str):
+            try:
+                parsed = json.loads(v)
+                if isinstance(parsed, list):
+                    return parsed
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                pass
+        return v
+
     @field_validator("query")
     @classmethod
     def validate_query_not_empty(cls, v: str) -> str:
@@ -448,6 +465,23 @@ def coerce_tags(cls, v):
             return [v]
         return v
 
+    @field_validator("metadata", mode="before")
+    @classmethod
+    def coerce_metadata(cls, v: Any) -> Any:
+        """Coerce JSON-string metadata to dict.
+
+        MCP tool bridges sometimes serialize JSON objects as strings during
+        transport, e.g. '{"key": "value"}' instead of {"key": "value"}.
+        """
+        if isinstance(v, str):
+            try:
+                parsed = json.loads(v)
+                if isinstance(parsed, dict):
+                    return parsed
+            except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                pass
+        return v
+
     observation_scopes: Literal["per_tag", "combined", "all_combinations"] | list[list[str]] | None = Field(
         default=None,
         title="ObservationScopes",
diff --git a/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/mcp_tools.py b/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/mcp_tools.py
index 3ccec38d8..fe491b0b8 100644
--- a/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/mcp_tools.py
+++ b/hindsight-api-slim/hindsight_api/mcp_tools.py
@@ -167,6 +167,15 @@ def build_content_dict(
         if isinstance(tags, str):
             tags = [tags]
 
+    # Coerce metadata from JSON string to dict if needed.
+    if isinstance(metadata, str):
+        try:
+            parsed = json.loads(metadata)
+            if isinstance(parsed, dict):
+                metadata = parsed
+        except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+            metadata = None
+
     content_dict: dict[str, Any] = {"content": content, "context": context}
 
     if timestamp:
@@ -665,6 +674,18 @@ async def recall(
 
                 budget_map = {"low": Budget.LOW, "mid": Budget.MID, "high": Budget.HIGH}
                 budget_enum = budget_map.get(budget.lower(), Budget.HIGH)
+                # Coerce JSON-string arrays to list (MCP bridges sometimes serialize them as strings)
+                if isinstance(types, str):
+                    try:
+                        types = json.loads(types)
+                    except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                        types = None
+                if isinstance(tags, str):
+                    try:
+                        parsed = json.loads(tags)
+                        tags = parsed if isinstance(parsed, list) else [tags]
+                    except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                        tags = [tags]
                 fact_types = types if types is not None else list(VALID_RECALL_FACT_TYPES)
 
                 recall_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {
@@ -722,6 +743,18 @@ async def recall(
 
                 budget_map = {"low": Budget.LOW, "mid": Budget.MID, "high": Budget.HIGH}
                 budget_enum = budget_map.get(budget.lower(), Budget.HIGH)
+                # Coerce JSON-string arrays to list (MCP bridges sometimes serialize them as strings)
+                if isinstance(types, str):
+                    try:
+                        types = json.loads(types)
+                    except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                        types = None
+                if isinstance(tags, str):
+                    try:
+                        parsed = json.loads(tags)
+                        tags = parsed if isinstance(parsed, list) else [tags]
+                    except (json.JSONDecodeError, TypeError):
+                        tags = [tags]
                 fact_types = types if types is not None else list(VALID_RECALL_FACT_TYPES)
 
                 recall_kwargs: dict[str, Any] = {