Base MCP Protocol

View Specification

Description

The Base MCP Protocol defines the standard protocol and architecture for Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers, ensuring universal compatibility and standardized interfaces for AI-powered tool integration. It establishes a modular, extensible foundation for communication between clients and servers in AI applications.

Features

Core Protocol

• JSON-RPC 2.0 Compliance: All messages between MCP clients and servers adhere to JSON-RPC 2.0.
  • Requests: Initiate operations, include unique ID and method name.
  • Responses: Reply to requests, include the same ID as the request (can be results or errors).
  • Notifications: One-way messages, no reply, must not include an ID.
• Error Handling: Errors in responses must include an error code and message.

Protocol Layers

• Base Protocol: Defines core message types and interactions.
• Lifecycle Management: Manages connection initialization, capability negotiation, and session control.
• Server Features:
  • Prompts: Server-side prompt management.
  • Resources: Server-exposed resources.
  • Tools: Tools exposed by servers for client use.
  • Utilities: Includes completion, logging, and pagination utilities.
• Client Features:
  • Sampling: Mechanisms for sampling data or responses.
  • Roots: Directory-like listing of root resources.
• Utilities: Cross-cutting concerns such as logging, argument completion, and progress reporting.

Authorization

• Auth Framework: Provides an authorization framework for HTTP+SSE transport.
• Custom Auth Strategies: Allows clients and servers to negotiate custom authentication/authorization methods.
• STDIO Transport: Uses environment credentials instead of the HTTP+SSE framework.

Schema

• TypeScript Schema: Full protocol specified as a TypeScript schema, serving as the source of truth.
• JSON Schema: Automatically generated from the TypeScript source for use with automated tooling.

Modularity

• Modular Design: Implementations can support only the components needed for their application, ensuring flexibility and scalability.
• Clear Separation of Concerns: Each protocol layer and component is well-defined and separated.

Category

Documentation & Learning Resources

Tags

specification, standardization, protocol, reference

Pricing

No pricing information is provided; this is a protocol specification and reference documentation.