diff --git a/api/src/mcp/mcp-server.service.ts b/api/src/mcp/mcp-server.service.ts
index cb24be5..7446bb6 100644
--- a/api/src/mcp/mcp-server.service.ts
+++ b/api/src/mcp/mcp-server.service.ts
@@ -22,15 +22,8 @@ export class McpServerService {
   }
 
   async startHttp(port = 3001): Promise<void> {
-    const mcpServer = this.createServer();
-    const transport = new StreamableHTTPServerTransport({
-      sessionIdGenerator: undefined,
-    });
-
-    await mcpServer.connect(transport);
-
     const httpServer = createServer((request, response) => {
-      void this.handleHttpRequest(request, response, transport);
+      void this.handleHttpRequest(request, response);
     });
 
     await new Promise<void>((resolve) => {
@@ -55,7 +48,6 @@ export class McpServerService {
   private async handleHttpRequest(
     request: IncomingMessage,
     response: ServerResponse,
-    transport: StreamableHTTPServerTransport,
   ): Promise<void> {
     this.setCorsHeaders(response);
 
@@ -80,20 +72,72 @@ export class McpServerService {
       return;
     }
 
+    if (this.isBrowserHealthRequest(request)) {
+      response.writeHead(200, { 'content-type': 'application/json' });
+      response.end(
+        JSON.stringify({
+          name: 'strava-mcp',
+          status: 'ok',
+          transport: 'streamable-http',
+          endpoint: '/mcp',
+          note: 'Use an MCP client or POST a JSON-RPC initialize request with Accept: application/json, text/event-stream.',
+        }),
+      );
+      return;
+    }
+
+    const mcpServer = this.createServer();
+    const transport = new StreamableHTTPServerTransport({
+      sessionIdGenerator: undefined,
+    });
+
     try {
+      await mcpServer.connect(transport);
       await transport.handleRequest(request, response);
     } catch (error) {
+      process.stderr.write(
+        `MCP HTTP request failed: ${
+          error instanceof Error ? (error.stack ?? error.message) : String(error)
+        }\n`,
+      );
       if (!response.headersSent) {
-        response.writeHead(500, { 'content-type': 'application/json' });
+        response.writeHead(this.errorStatus(error), {
+          'content-type': 'application/json',
+        });
       }
       response.end(
         JSON.stringify({
           error: error instanceof Error ? error.message : 'MCP request failed',
         }),
       );
+    } finally {
+      await mcpServer.close().catch(() => undefined);
     }
   }
 
+  private isBrowserHealthRequest(request: IncomingMessage): boolean {
+    if (request.method !== 'GET') {
+      return false;
+    }
+
+    const accept = request.headers.accept ?? '';
+    return !accept.includes('text/event-stream');
+  }
+
+  private errorStatus(error: unknown): number {
+    const message = error instanceof Error ? error.message : '';
+    if (message.includes('Not Acceptable')) {
+      return 406;
+    }
+    if (message.includes('Method not allowed')) {
+      return 405;
+    }
+    if (message.includes('Bad Request')) {
+      return 400;
+    }
+    return 500;
+  }
+
   private isAuthorized(request: IncomingMessage): boolean {
     const token = process.env.MCP_AUTH_TOKEN;
     if (!token) {