modelcontextprotocol · maxisbey · Jun 26, 2026 · Jun 23, 2026 · Jun 23, 2026 · Jun 23, 2026
diff --git a/.github/workflows/shared.yml b/.github/workflows/shared.yml
@@ -79,6 +79,10 @@ jobs:
 
  - name: Run pytest with coverage
  shell: bash
+ env:
+ # tests/examples/test_stories_smoke.py is gated on this var; it spawns real
+ # stdio + uvicorn subprocesses, so run it on exactly one matrix cell.
+ MCP_EXAMPLES_SMOKE: ${{ matrix.os == 'ubuntu-latest' && matrix.python-version == '3.12' && matrix.dep-resolution.name == 'locked' && '1' || '' }}
  run: |
  uv run --frozen --no-sync coverage erase
  uv run --frozen --no-sync coverage run -m pytest -n auto

diff --git a/examples/README.md b/examples/README.md
@@ -1,5 +1,22 @@
-# Python SDK Examples
+# Python SDK examples
 
-This folders aims to provide simple examples of using the Python SDK. Please refer to the
-[servers repository](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers)
-for real-world servers.
+- [`stories/`](stories/) — **the canonical reference.** One self-verifying
+ example per protocol feature, each with its own README. Start with
+ [`stories/tools/`](stories/tools/); the [stories README](stories/README.md)
+ has the full table and how to run them.
+- [`snippets/`](snippets/) — short extracts embedded into `README.v2.md`. Kept
+ minimal and in sync with the top-level README; not intended to be run
+ standalone.
+- [`servers/everything-server/`](servers/everything-server/) — the conformance
+ target for the cross-SDK
+ [conformance suite](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/conformance).
+ Exercises every server capability in one process.
+- [`mcpserver/`](mcpserver/) — single-file v1-era examples retained for the
+ migration guide; superseded by `stories/` and slated for removal.
+- [`clients/`](clients/) and the remaining [`servers/`](servers/) directories
+ (`simple-*`, `sse-polling-demo`, `structured-output-lowlevel`) — standalone
+ v1-era projects still linked from `README.v2.md`; retained pending
+ consolidation into `stories/`.
+
+For real-world servers see the
+[servers repository](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers).
diff --git a/examples/pyproject.toml b/examples/pyproject.toml
@@ -0,0 +1,16 @@
+[project]
+name = "mcp-example-stories"
+version = "0.0.0"
+description = "Self-verifying example suite for the MCP Python SDK (dev-only, not published)"
+requires-python = ">=3.10"
+dependencies = [
+ "mcp",
+ "tomli>=2.0; python_version < '3.11'",
+]
+
+[build-system]
+requires = ["hatchling"]
+build-backend = "hatchling.build"
+
+[tool.hatch.build.targets.wheel]
+packages = ["stories"]
diff --git a/examples/stories/README.md b/examples/stories/README.md
@@ -0,0 +1,164 @@
+# Story examples
+
+One feature per folder. Each story is a small, self-verifying program: a
+`server.py` (plus, where the wire contract is worth seeing by hand, a
+`server_lowlevel.py`) and a `client.py` whose `main()` makes assertions and
+exits non-zero on failure. The code you read here is the same code CI runs —
+there is no separate test double.
+
+## Canonical shape
+
+Every `client.py` starts from this skeleton — copy it, then replace the body
+with the story's assertions:
+
+```python
+"""One line: what this client proves."""
+
+from mcp.client import Client
+from stories._harness import Target, run_client
+
+
+async def main(target: Target, *, mode: str = "auto") -> None:
+ async with Client(target, mode=mode) as client:
+ ... # the story's assertions
+
+
+if __name__ == "__main__":
+ run_client(main)
+```
+
+There are exactly two `main` shapes. A story that opens **one** connection
+takes `main(target: Target, ...)`. A story that opens **more than one** sets
+`multi_connection = true` in [`manifest.toml`](manifest.toml), takes
+`main(targets: TargetFactory, ...)`, and calls `targets()` once per fresh
+connection — a `Client` cannot be re-entered after exit. Nothing else changes
+shape.
+
+Story files import from `stories._harness` only these names: `run_client`,
+`target_from_args`, `Target`, `TargetFactory` — plus `AuthBuilder` for the
+auth stories. Everything else a story uses comes from public `mcp.*` modules.
+
+The repetition this produces across stories is deliberate, not a refactor
+waiting to happen: each `client.py` is a standalone, compiled doc page, so
+when a public API changes, N red example files flag N doc pages. Don't pull
+the `Client(target, mode=mode)` line (or anything around it) into a shared
+helper. A story that can't be the canonical shape says why in its module
+docstring's first line.
+
+## How to read a story
+
+Start with the story's README, then `server.py`, then `client.py`. Every
+`client.py` exports `async def main(target, *, mode="auto")` — or
+`main(targets, ...)` for the stories that open more than one connection — and
+constructs the `Client` itself, so the body opens with the one line a client
+example exists to teach: `async with Client(target, mode=mode) as client:`.
+The `run_client(main)` call in the `__main__` block is only argv plumbing
+(stdio vs `--http`, which `mode` to pass); it never hides how the client
+connects.
+
+## Running a story
+
+From the repository root:
+
+```bash
+# stdio (default — the client spawns the server as a subprocess)
+uv run python -m stories.tools.client
+
+# HTTP, self-hosted — the client spawns the server on a real uvicorn socket on a
+# port it owns, waits for it, runs, then terminates it. Nothing to background or kill.
+uv run python -m stories.tools.client --http
+
+# the same self-hosted run against the story's lowlevel-API server variant
+uv run python -m stories.tools.client --http --server server_lowlevel
+
+# HTTP against a server you run yourself
+uv run python -m stories.tools.server --http --port 8000 # separate terminal
+uv run python -m stories.tools.client --http http://127.0.0.1:8000/mcp
+```
+
+`--http` takes two forms. Bare `--http` is the canonical HTTP run — it is
+complete on its own, and it is what every per-story README shows. `--http
+<url>` connects to a server you started yourself; the per-story READMEs spell
+that out only where hosting is the lesson (the HTTP-hosting and auth stories).
+`--server <stem>` swaps in a sibling server module on stdio and on the
+self-hosted `--http` run; with `--http <url>` you already picked the server
+when you started it. The auth stories (`bearer_auth/`, `oauth/`,
+`oauth_client_credentials/`) self-host on their fixed `:8000` instead of a
+free port because their issuer/PRM metadata bake it in — `:8000` must be
+free, and the run refuses to start (rather than silently testing whatever is
+there) if it is not.
+
+The full matrix (every story × transport × era × server-variant) runs under
+pytest:
+
+```bash
+uv run --frozen pytest tests/examples/ # everything
+uv run --frozen pytest tests/examples/ -k tools # one story
+```
+
+[`manifest.toml`](manifest.toml) declares each story's transports, era, status,
+and variants; `tests/examples/` expands it.
+
+## Layout
+
+`_hosting.py` adapts a story's `build_server()` / `build_app()` to argv (stdio
+vs `--http` serving); `_harness.py` is the client-side mirror — it picks the
+`target` that `main()` connects to (a stdio subprocess by default, a self-hosted
+HTTP subprocess under bare `--http`, your URL under `--http <url>`). They
+isolate the parts of the SDK's hosting surface
+that are still moving — **don't copy them into your own project**; copy the
+`server.py` / `client.py` bodies instead. `_shared/` holds an in-process OAuth
+authorization server reused by the auth stories.
+
+## Stories
+
+The **status** column is the feature's standing in the protocol, from
+[`manifest.toml`](manifest.toml): `current`, `legacy` (a 2025 handshake-era
+mechanism with a 2026-era replacement), or `deprecated` (deprecated by
+SEP-2577; functional through the deprecation window). Each non-`current` story's README
+opens with a banner saying what replaces it.
+
+| story | what it shows | status |
+|---|---|---|
+| **— start here —** | | |
+| [`tools`](tools/) | `@mcp.tool()`, schema inference, structured output, annotations | current |
+| [`prompts`](prompts/) | `@mcp.prompt()`, list/get, argument completion | current |
+| [`resources`](resources/) | `@mcp.resource()`, list/read, URI templates | current |
+| [`lifespan`](lifespan/) | startup/shutdown lifespan, per-request state injection | current |
+| [`dual_era`](dual_era/) | one server factory serving both protocol eras; era-neutral accessors | current |
+| **— feature stories —** | | |
+| [`streaming`](streaming/) | progress notifications, in-flight logging, cancellation | current |
+| [`legacy_elicitation`](legacy_elicitation/) | server pauses a tool to ask the user (form + url) via a push request | legacy |
+| [`sampling`](sampling/) | server asks the client's LLM mid-tool (push request) | deprecated |
+| [`stickynotes`](stickynotes/) | capstone: tools mutate state → resources + `list_changed` + elicit guard | current |
+| [`custom_methods`](custom_methods/) | vendor-prefixed JSON-RPC via `add_request_handler` / `send_request` | current |
+| [`schema_validators`](schema_validators/) | tool input schema from pydantic / TypedDict / dataclass / dict | current |
+| [`middleware`](middleware/) | server-side request/response middleware | current |
+| [`parallel_calls`](parallel_calls/) | two clients rendezvous in one tool; per-call progress attribution | current |
+| [`roots`](roots/) | client-declared roots, server reads them via `ctx` | deprecated |
+| [`pagination`](pagination/) | manual cursor loop over list endpoints | current |
+| [`error_handling`](error_handling/) | `is_error` results vs `MCPError`; `ToolError` | current |
+| [`serve_one`](serve_one/) | building a `Connection` by hand and calling `serve_one` directly | current |
+| **— HTTP hosting —** | | |
+| [`stateless_legacy`](stateless_legacy/) | `streamable_http_app(stateless_http=True)`; the one-liner deploy | current |
+| [`json_response`](json_response/) | `json_response=True` mode; raw 2026 POST envelope on the wire | current |
+| [`legacy_routing`](legacy_routing/) | `classify_inbound_request()` era routing in front of a sessionful 1.x deploy | current |
+| [`starlette_mount`](starlette_mount/) | mounting `streamable_http_app()` under a Starlette/FastAPI sub-path | current |
+| [`sse_polling`](sse_polling/) | SEP-1699 `closeSSE()` + `Last-Event-ID` resume via `EventStore` | legacy |
+| [`standalone_get`](standalone_get/) | server-initiated `list_changed` over the sessionful GET stream | legacy |
+| [`reconnect`](reconnect/) | explicit `discover()`, persist `DiscoverResult`, zero-RTT reconnect | current |
+| [`bearer_auth`](bearer_auth/) | `TokenVerifier` + `AuthSettings` bearer gate, PRM metadata, `get_access_token()` | current |
+| [`oauth`](oauth/) | full `authorization_code` grant against an in-process AS | current |
+| [`oauth_client_credentials`](oauth_client_credentials/) | `client_credentials` grant; minimal in-process token endpoint | current |
+| **— deferred (README only) —** | | |
+| [`caching`](caching/) | `CacheableResult` ttl/scope hints; client honouring | not yet implemented |
+| [`mrtr`](mrtr/) | `InputRequiredResult` round-trip with `requestState` HMAC | not yet implemented — [#2898](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/issues/2898) |
+| [`subscriptions`](subscriptions/) | `subscriptions/listen`, `ServerEventBus`, `Client.listen()` | not yet implemented — [#2901](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/issues/2901) |
+| [`tasks`](tasks/) | `io.modelcontextprotocol/tasks` extension | not yet implemented |
+| [`apps`](apps/) | MCP Apps: `ui://` resource + `_meta.ui` | not yet implemented — [#2896](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/issues/2896) |
+| [`skills`](skills/) | SEP-2640 skills extension | not yet implemented — [#2896](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/issues/2896) |
+| [`events`](events/) | `io.modelcontextprotocol/events` extension | not yet implemented |
+
+The TypeScript SDK's `repl`, `client-quickstart`, and `server-quickstart`
+examples are intentionally not ported (interactive / external network deps);
+its `hono` example maps to `starlette_mount/`.
diff --git a/examples/stories/__init__.py b/examples/stories/__init__.py
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+"""Self-verifying example suite for the MCP Python SDK.
+
+Each story directory holds a ``server.py`` (and usually ``server_lowlevel.py``)
+plus a ``client.py`` whose ``main(target, *, mode)`` runs against both.
+``tests/examples/`` drives every story over an in-process matrix.
+"""