diff --git a/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchema.java b/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchema.java
index b58f1c552..3b3f16a94 100644
--- a/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchema.java
+++ b/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchema.java
@@ -1325,6 +1325,15 @@ public record ListToolsResult( // @formatter:off
 		@JsonProperty("nextCursor") String nextCursor,
 		@JsonProperty("_meta") Map<String, Object> meta) implements Result { // @formatter:on
 
+		/**
+		 * Compact constructor that validates tool names on deserialization (warns only).
+		 */
+		public ListToolsResult {
+			if (tools != null) {
+				tools.forEach(tool -> ToolNameValidator.validate(tool.name(), false));
+			}
+		}
+
 		public ListToolsResult(List<Tool> tools, String nextCursor) {
 			this(tools, nextCursor, null);
 		}
@@ -1466,7 +1475,7 @@ public Builder meta(Map<String, Object> meta) {
 			}
 
 			public Tool build() {
-				Assert.hasText(name, "name must not be empty");
+				ToolNameValidator.validate(name, true);
 				return new Tool(name, title, description, inputSchema, outputSchema, annotations, meta);
 			}
 
@@ -1508,6 +1517,13 @@ public record CallToolRequest( // @formatter:off
 		@JsonProperty("arguments") Map<String, Object> arguments,
 		@JsonProperty("_meta") Map<String, Object> meta) implements Request { // @formatter:on
 
+		/**
+		 * Compact constructor that validates tool name on deserialization (warns only).
+		 */
+		public CallToolRequest {
+			ToolNameValidator.validate(name, false);
+		}
+
 		public CallToolRequest(McpJsonMapper jsonMapper, String name, String jsonArguments) {
 			this(name, parseJsonArguments(jsonMapper, jsonArguments), null);
 		}
diff --git a/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidator.java b/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidator.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..2bc27f06a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcp-core/src/main/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidator.java
@@ -0,0 +1,68 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2024-2024 the original author or authors.
+ */
+
+package io.modelcontextprotocol.spec;
+
+import java.util.regex.Pattern;
+
+import org.slf4j.Logger;
+import org.slf4j.LoggerFactory;
+
+/**
+ * Validates tool names according to the MCP specification.
+ *
+ * <p>
+ * Tool names must conform to the following rules:
+ * <ul>
+ * <li>Must be between 1 and 128 characters in length</li>
+ * <li>May only contain: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, underscore (_), hyphen (-), and dot (.)</li>
+ * <li>Must not contain spaces, commas, or other special characters</li>
+ * </ul>
+ *
+ * @see <a href=
+ * "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/draft/server/tools#tool-names">MCP
+ * Specification - Tool Names</a>
+ */
+public final class ToolNameValidator {
+
+	private static final Logger logger = LoggerFactory.getLogger(ToolNameValidator.class);
+
+	private static final int MAX_LENGTH = 128;
+
+	private static final Pattern VALID_NAME_PATTERN = Pattern.compile("^[A-Za-z0-9_\\-.]+$");
+
+	private ToolNameValidator() {
+	}
+
+	/**
+	 * Validates a tool name according to MCP specification.
+	 * @param name the tool name to validate
+	 * @param strict if true, throws exception on invalid name; if false, logs warning
+	 * @throws IllegalArgumentException if strict is true and name is invalid
+	 */
+	public static void validate(String name, boolean strict) {
+		if (name == null || name.isEmpty()) {
+			handleError("Tool name must not be null or empty", name, strict);
+			return;
+		}
+		if (name.length() > MAX_LENGTH) {
+			handleError("Tool name must not exceed 128 characters", name, strict);
+			return;
+		}
+		if (!VALID_NAME_PATTERN.matcher(name).matches()) {
+			handleError("Tool name contains invalid characters (allowed: A-Z, a-z, 0-9, _, -, .)", name, strict);
+		}
+	}
+
+	private static void handleError(String message, String name, boolean strict) {
+		String fullMessage = message + ": '" + name + "'";
+		if (strict) {
+			throw new IllegalArgumentException(fullMessage);
+		}
+		else {
+			logger.warn("{}. Processing continues, but tool name should be fixed.", fullMessage);
+		}
+	}
+
+}
diff --git a/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchemaTests.java b/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchemaTests.java
index 82ffe9ede..6bfda18ed 100644
--- a/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchemaTests.java
+++ b/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/McpSchemaTests.java
@@ -1765,4 +1765,33 @@ void testProgressNotificationWithoutMessage() throws Exception {
 					{"progressToken":"progress-token-789","progress":0.25}"""));
 	}
 
+	// Tool Name Validation Tests
+
+	@Test
+	void testToolBuilderWithValidName() {
+		McpSchema.Tool tool = McpSchema.Tool.builder().name("valid_tool-name.v1").description("A test tool").build();
+
+		assertThat(tool.name()).isEqualTo("valid_tool-name.v1");
+		assertThat(tool.description()).isEqualTo("A test tool");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void testToolBuilderWithInvalidNameThrowsException() {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> McpSchema.Tool.builder().name("invalid tool name").build())
+			.isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("invalid characters");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void testListToolsResultDeserializationWithInvalidToolName() throws Exception {
+		// Deserialization should not throw, just warn
+		String json = """
+				{"tools":[{"name":"invalid tool name","description":"test"}],"nextCursor":null}""";
+
+		McpSchema.ListToolsResult result = JSON_MAPPER.readValue(json, McpSchema.ListToolsResult.class);
+
+		assertThat(result.tools()).hasSize(1);
+		assertThat(result.tools().get(0).name()).isEqualTo("invalid tool name");
+	}
+
 }
diff --git a/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidatorTests.java b/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidatorTests.java
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..38d05fb62
--- /dev/null
+++ b/mcp-core/src/test/java/io/modelcontextprotocol/spec/ToolNameValidatorTests.java
@@ -0,0 +1,110 @@
+/*
+ * Copyright 2024-2024 the original author or authors.
+ */
+
+package io.modelcontextprotocol.spec;
+
+import org.junit.jupiter.api.Test;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.ParameterizedTest;
+import org.junit.jupiter.params.provider.ValueSource;
+
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThat;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatCode;
+import static org.assertj.core.api.Assertions.assertThatThrownBy;
+
+/**
+ * Tests for {@link ToolNameValidator}.
+ */
+class ToolNameValidatorTests {
+
+	@ParameterizedTest
+	@ValueSource(strings = { "getUser", "DATA_EXPORT_v2", "admin.tools.list", "my-tool", "Tool123", "a", "A",
+			"_private", "tool_name", "tool-name", "tool.name", "UPPERCASE", "lowercase", "MixedCase123" })
+	void validToolNames_strictMode(String name) {
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(name, true)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void validToolName_maxLength() {
+		String name = "a".repeat(128);
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(name, true)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void invalidToolName_null_strictMode() {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(null, true)).isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("null or empty");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void invalidToolName_empty_strictMode() {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate("", true)).isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("null or empty");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void invalidToolName_tooLong_strictMode() {
+		String name = "a".repeat(129);
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(name, true)).isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("128 characters");
+	}
+
+	@ParameterizedTest
+	@ValueSource(strings = { "tool name", // space
+			"tool,name", // comma
+			"tool@name", // at sign
+			"tool#name", // hash
+			"tool$name", // dollar
+			"tool%name", // percent
+			"tool&name", // ampersand
+			"tool*name", // asterisk
+			"tool+name", // plus
+			"tool=name", // equals
+			"tool/name", // slash
+			"tool\\name", // backslash
+			"tool:name", // colon
+			"tool;name", // semicolon
+			"tool'name", // single quote
+			"tool\"name", // double quote
+			"tool<name", // less than
+			"tool>name", // greater than
+			"tool?name", // question mark
+			"tool!name", // exclamation
+			"tool(name)", // parentheses
+			"tool[name]", // brackets
+			"tool{name}", // braces
+			"tool|name", // pipe
+			"tool~name", // tilde
+			"tool`name", // backtick
+			"tool^name", // caret
+			"tööl", // non-ASCII
+			"工具" // unicode
+	})
+	void invalidToolNames_specialCharacters_strictMode(String name) {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(name, true)).isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("invalid characters");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void invalidToolName_nonStrictMode_doesNotThrow() {
+		// Non-strict mode should not throw, just warn
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate("invalid name", false)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate(null, false)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate("", false)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+		assertThatCode(() -> ToolNameValidator.validate("a".repeat(129), false)).doesNotThrowAnyException();
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void toolBuilder_validatesName_strictMode() {
+		assertThatThrownBy(() -> McpSchema.Tool.builder().name("invalid name with space").build())
+			.isInstanceOf(IllegalArgumentException.class)
+			.hasMessageContaining("invalid characters");
+	}
+
+	@Test
+	void toolBuilder_validName() {
+		McpSchema.Tool tool = McpSchema.Tool.builder().name("valid_tool-name.v1").build();
+		assertThat(tool.name()).isEqualTo("valid_tool-name.v1");
+	}
+
+}