modelcontextprotocol · maxisbey · Jul 23, 2026 · Jul 21, 2026 · Jul 16, 2026 · Jul 21, 2026
diff --git a/.github/actions/conformance/expected-failures.yml b/.github/actions/conformance/expected-failures.yml
@@ -10,7 +10,24 @@
 # scenarios start passing and MUST be removed from this list (the runner fails
 # on stale entries), so the baseline burns down per milestone.
 
-client: []
+client:
+ # SEP-1932 (DPoP): the SDK's OAuth client does not implement DPoP proofs.
+ # These scenarios are new in the da56f663 referee pin. The entries are
+ # per-check (conformance #406) because both scenarios pass their
+ # non-DPoP checks (discovery, token acquisition, request flow) live.
+ - auth/dpop:sep-1932-client-token-request-proof
+ - auth/dpop:sep-1932-client-dpop-auth-scheme
+ - auth/dpop:sep-1932-client-fresh-proof
+ - auth/dpop-nonce:sep-1932-client-token-request-proof
+ - auth/dpop-nonce:sep-1932-client-dpop-auth-scheme
+ - auth/dpop-nonce:sep-1932-client-fresh-proof
+ - auth/dpop-nonce:sep-1932-client-as-nonce
+ - auth/dpop-nonce:sep-1932-client-rs-nonce
+ # Workload identity federation: the OAuth client does not implement the
+ # urn:ietf:params:oauth:grant-type:jwt-bearer grant (it answers with
+ # authorization_code). Also new in the da56f663 referee pin; per-check for
+ # the same reason.
+ - auth/wif-jwt-bearer:wif-grant-type
 
 server:
  # SEP-2663 (io.modelcontextprotocol/tasks): the SDK does not implement the

diff --git a/.github/workflows/conformance.yml b/.github/workflows/conformance.yml
@@ -19,17 +19,19 @@ env:
  # Bump deliberately and reconcile both
  # .github/actions/conformance/expected-failures*.yml files in the same change.
  #
- # Temporarily pinned to the pkg.pr.new build of conformance main@4944b268
- # (0.2.0-alpha.8, which includes #372: fail checks whose prerequisite is
- # missing instead of skipping them) — alpha.8 is not published to npm yet.
- # Pinned by commit SHA so the tarball cannot move under us;
+ # Temporarily pinned to the pkg.pr.new build of conformance main@da56f663,
+ # which includes #403 (sep-2575 checks flipped to the post-spec-#3002 shape:
+ # clientInfo optional on requests, serverInfo in result _meta instead of the
+ # discover body) and #406 (per-check expected-failures granularity) — the
+ # last published npm release (0.2.0-alpha.9) still enforces the pre-#3002
+ # shape. Pinned by commit SHA so the tarball cannot move under us;
  # CONFORMANCE_PKG_SHA256 pins the bytes and the fetch-and-verify step below
  # downloads, checks the digest, and repoints CONFORMANCE_PKG at the
  # verified local copy. Repin to the next published @modelcontextprotocol/
- # conformance release (>=0.2.0-alpha.8) once it ships, then drop
+ # conformance release (>=0.2.0-alpha.10) once it ships, then drop
  # CONFORMANCE_PKG_SHA256 and the fetch-and-verify steps.
- CONFORMANCE_PKG: "https://pkg.pr.new/@modelcontextprotocol/conformance@4944b268"
- CONFORMANCE_PKG_SHA256: "0f70c035782d319d72ab427653c5275db5c50429d59fae0241a645b33aeda1a7"
+ CONFORMANCE_PKG: "https://pkg.pr.new/@modelcontextprotocol/conformance@da56f663"
+ CONFORMANCE_PKG_SHA256: "bbc94678033071df4bc9851ce2054f9dff918f4501661d1d60e2d09d8c515e6d"
 
 jobs:
  server-conformance:

diff --git a/docs/advanced/extensions.md b/docs/advanced/extensions.md
@@ -133,14 +133,21 @@ or veto a tool call:
 ```
 
 * `params` is the validated `CallToolRequestParams`: you get `params.name` and
- `params.arguments` without touching raw JSON.
-* `call_next(ctx)` runs the rest of the chain. Return its result unchanged (observe),
- return something else (replace), or raise an `MCPError` (refuse).
+ `params.arguments` without touching raw JSON. It is also what decides which
+ tool call runs: passing a rewritten context through `call_next` changes what
+ the handler observes on `ctx`, not the tool invocation. Wire-level request
+ rewriting belongs to [Middleware](middleware.md).
+* `call_next(ctx)` runs the rest of the chain and returns the handler's result.
+ Return it unchanged (observe), return something else (replace), or raise an
+ `MCPError` (refuse). Whatever you return is serialized like any handler
+ result, including the 2026-era `serverInfo` identity stamp, so a
+ short-circuiting interceptor never produces an anonymous or off-schema
+ response.
- result, including the 2026-era `serverInfo` identity stamp, so a
- short-circuiting interceptor never produces an anonymous or off-schema
- response.
+ result, including the 2026-era `serverInfo` identity stamp.
- result, including the 2026-era `serverInfo` identity stamp, so a
- short-circuiting interceptor never produces an anonymous or off-schema
- response.
+ result, including the 2026-era `serverInfo` identity stamp.
 * With several extensions, interceptors nest in registration order: the first
  extension in `extensions=[...]` is outermost.
 * The default implementation is a pass-through, and a server whose extensions never
- override this hook installs **no** middleware at all. You don't pay for what
- you don't use.
+ override this hook keeps the bare `tools/call` handler untouched. You don't
+pay for what you don't use.
 
 The hook wraps `tools/call` and nothing else. For every-message concerns, use
 [Middleware](middleware.md). That is what it is for.

diff --git a/docs/advanced/low-level-server.md b/docs/advanced/low-level-server.md
@@ -102,10 +102,13 @@ Call it and the result carries both representations:
  "content": [{"type": "text", "text": "Found 3 books matching 'dune'."}],
  "structuredContent": {"matches": 3, "query": "dune"},
  "isError": false,
- "resultType": "complete"
+ "resultType": "complete",
+ "_meta": {"io.modelcontextprotocol/serverInfo": {"name": "Bookshop", "version": "2.0.0"}}
 }
 ```
 
+The `_meta` block is the server's identity stamp: the SDK adds it to every 2026-era result, with the `version` from the constructor (a server that sets none reports an empty string). A server that must not identify itself can strip the key with a middleware, which owns the results it returns.
+
 The server never compares the two fields. This SDK's `Client` does: return `structured_content` that doesn't satisfy the `output_schema` you declared and `call_tool` raises a `RuntimeError` that starts with `Invalid structured content returned by tool search_books` and goes on to quote the `jsonschema` failure. Promising a schema is cheap; keeping it is on you. The whole ladder of return types and schemas is in **[Structured Output](../servers/structured-output.md)**.
 
 ## `_meta`: for the application, not the model

diff --git a/docs/advanced/middleware.md b/docs/advanced/middleware.md
@@ -63,6 +63,10 @@ In increasing order of how much you should hesitate:
  `initialize`: the result the client gets back is built from your rewritten params, but the
  server commits its connection state from the original wire params. The two sides can finish
  the handshake disagreeing about what they negotiated.
+* **Answer.** Return a result without calling `call_next(ctx)` and it goes to the client as
+ your response. `call_next` hands you the finished wire form, and the pipeline never patches
+ what you return, so the whole envelope is yours: on a 2026-era connection that includes the
+ `serverInfo` `_meta` stamp, which the SDK adds to handler results but not to yours.
 
 !!! check
  `initialize` is one of the things middleware wraps, and it is the *only* hook you get

diff --git a/docs/client/index.md b/docs/client/index.md
@@ -30,7 +30,7 @@ Everything else on this page is identical across all three. Headers, subprocesse
 
 Four read-only properties, populated the moment you enter the block:
 
-* `client.server_info`: the server's identity. `server_info.name` here is `"Bookshop"`, `server_info.version` is whatever the server reports.
+* `client.server_info`: the server's identity, or `None` for a 2026-era server that does not report one (python-sdk servers do by default). `server_info.name` here is `"Bookshop"`, `server_info.version` is whatever the server reports.
 * `client.server_capabilities`: what the server can do (`tools`, `resources`, `prompts`, `completions`, ...). A capability the server doesn't have is `None`.
 * `client.protocol_version`: the protocol version the two sides agreed on. Here it is `"2026-07-28"`.
 * `client.instructions`: the server's `instructions=` string, or `None` if it didn't set one.
@@ -202,7 +202,7 @@ There is one constructor flag built for that: `Client(mcp, raise_exceptions=True
 ## Recap
 
 * `Client(x)` connects in-memory to a server object, over Streamable HTTP to a URL string, and over anything else via a transport.
-* `async with` is the whole lifecycle. Inside it, `server_info`, `server_capabilities`, `protocol_version` and `instructions` are already populated.
+* `async with` is the whole lifecycle. Inside it, `server_capabilities` and `protocol_version` are already populated; `server_info` and `instructions` are too when the server provides them.
 * `list_tools()` gives you each tool's `name`, `title`, `description` and `input_schema`.
 * `call_tool()` returns `content` for the model, `structured_content` for your code, and `is_error`. A raising tool is a result, not an exception.
 * `content` is a union of block types; narrow with `isinstance` before reading.

diff --git a/docs/client/session-groups.md b/docs/client/session-groups.md
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ Run it again. `print(sorted(group.tools))` now shows both:
 
 `connect_to_server` returns the `ClientSession` it opened. Keep it if you ever want that server gone: `await group.disconnect_from_server(session)` removes its tools, resources, and prompts from the group.
 
-If you already hold a connected `ClientSession` (`Client.session` is one), hand it to `await group.connect_with_session(server_info, session)` instead of opening a new transport. It aggregates the same way. The group never closes a session it didn't open.
+If you already hold a connected `ClientSession` (`Client.session` is one), hand it to `await group.connect_with_session(server_info, session)` instead of opening a new transport. It aggregates the same way. The group never closes a session it didn't open. `server_info` names the server for component prefixes; on a 2026-era connection `client.server_info` can be `None` (identity is optional), so pass your own `Implementation(name=..., version=...)` in that case.
 
 ## The classic handshake
 

diff --git a/docs/get-started/testing.md b/docs/get-started/testing.md
@@ -59,6 +59,8 @@ async def client(): # (2)!
 @pytest.mark.anyio
 async def test_call_add_tool(client: Client):
  result = await client.call_tool("add", {"a": 1, "b": 2})
+ # Drop the server identity stamp in `_meta`; it is not what this test is about.
+ result.meta = None
  assert result == snapshot(
  CallToolResult(
  content=[TextContent(type="text", text="3")],

diff --git a/docs/migration.md b/docs/migration.md
@@ -606,6 +606,14 @@ mcp = MCPServer("Demo", instructions="You answer questions about the weather.")
 
 Keep `name` positional and pass everything else by keyword.
 
+### Unversioned servers report an empty version
+
+In v1, a server constructed without a `version` reported the installed `mcp`
+package's version as its own in the `initialize` result's `serverInfo`. In v2
+it reports an empty string instead: the SDK's version is not your server's
+version. Pass `version="..."` to `Server(...)` or `MCPServer(...)` to identify
+your server properly. The field is display-only; nothing breaks either way.
+
 ### `mount_path` parameter removed from MCPServer
 
 The `mount_path` parameter has been removed from `MCPServer.__init__()`, `MCPServer.run()`, `MCPServer.run_sse_async()`, and `MCPServer.sse_app()`. It was also removed from the `Settings` class.
@@ -1498,7 +1506,7 @@ version = session.protocol_version
 
 The raw handshake result is also retained: `session.initialize_result` is set after `initialize()` (≤2025-11-25 servers — including `stateless_http=True` servers, which still answer `initialize`); `session.discover_result` is set after `discover()` (2026-07-28+ servers). At most one is non-`None`.
 
-On the high-level `Client`, `client.server_capabilities`, `client.server_info`, and `client.protocol_version` are non-nullable inside the context manager. `client.instructions` remains `str | None` since the server may omit it. (The lowlevel `ClientSession` still lets you call methods before any handshake, as in v1; `Client` always connects on enter — by default it probes `server/discover` and falls back to the initialize handshake.)
+On the high-level `Client`, `client.server_capabilities`and `client.protocol_version` are non-nullable inside the context manager. `client.instructions` remains `str | None` since the server may omit it, and `client.server_info` is `Implementation | None`: on 2026-era connections identity is optional wire metadata, so a server that does not report it reads as `None`. (The lowlevel `ClientSession` still lets you call methods before any handshake, as in v1; `Client` always connects on enter — by default it probes `server/discover` and falls back to the initialize handshake.)
 
 ### `cursor` parameter removed from `ClientSession` list methods
 

diff --git a/docs/protocol-versions.md b/docs/protocol-versions.md
@@ -68,10 +68,10 @@ A pin is a promise *you* make: you already know the server speaks that version.
  A pin is not a discovery. Print `client.server_info` and the price is right there:
 
  ```text
-name='' title=None version='' description=None website_url=None icons=None
+ None
  ```
 
- The client never asked the server who it is, so `server_info` is a blank. `client.server_capabilities`
+ The client never asked the server who it is, so `server_info` is `None`. `client.server_capabilities`
  is the same story: every capability is `None`. Tool calls still work (the protocol needs none of it);
  code that reads `server_capabilities` to decide what to offer does not.
 
@@ -87,7 +87,7 @@ ValueError: mode must be 'legacy', 'auto', or one of ['2026-07-28']; got '2025-0
 
 The probe is cheap, but it is still a round trip you pay on every reconnect, and the answer almost never changes.
 
-So keep it. After an `auto` connection, `client.session.discover_result` holds the exact `DiscoverResult` the server sent: its `supported_versions`, its `capabilities`, its `server_info`, its `instructions`. Hand it back as `prior_discover=` the next time:
+So keep it. After an `auto` connection, `client.session.discover_result` holds the exact `DiscoverResult` the server sent: its `supported_versions`, its `capabilities`, its `instructions`, and the identity the server stamped into the result's `_meta`. Hand it back as `prior_discover=` the next time:
 
 ```python title="client.py" hl_lines="15 17"
 --8<-- "docs_src/protocol_versions/tutorial004.py"
@@ -112,7 +112,7 @@ The second connection made **zero** negotiation round trips and still knows exac
 | --- | --- | --- |
 | `Client(target)` | one `server/discover` probe; the `initialize` handshake if it fails | the newest version both sides speak, whichever era |
 | `Client(target, mode="legacy")` | the `initialize` handshake | a handshake-era version; server-initiated requests work |
-| `Client(target, mode="2026-07-28")` | none | that version, pinned, with a blank `server_info` |
+| `Client(target, mode="2026-07-28")` | none | that version, pinned, with `server_info` as `None` |
 | `Client(target, mode="2026-07-28", prior_discover=saved)` | none | that version, pinned, *and* the identity you saved last time |
 
 ## Recap
@@ -121,7 +121,7 @@ The second connection made **zero** negotiation round trips and still knows exac
 * `mode="auto"` is the default: probe, fall back. Leave it alone unless one of the other three rows describes you.
 * `client.protocol_version` is always the answer to "what did I get?".
 * `mode="legacy"` forces the handshake. It is what you need for server-initiated requests: sampling, push elicitation, `message_handler`.
-* A version pin (`mode="2026-07-28"`) sends no negotiation traffic at all, at the cost of a blank `server_info`.
+* A version pin (`mode="2026-07-28"`) sends no negotiation traffic at all, at the cost of `client.server_info` being `None`.
 * `prior_discover=` pays that cost back: save `client.session.discover_result`, reconnect with it, get both.
 
 A modern connection has no push channel, so how does a 2026 server ask you a question mid-call? It returns it: **[Multi-round-trip requests](handlers/multi-round-trip.md)**.
diff --git a/docs/servers/media.md b/docs/servers/media.md
@@ -97,9 +97,10 @@ The same `icons=[...]` keyword is accepted by `MCPServer(...)`, `@mcp.tool()`, `
 
 ### Where a client sees them
 
-Icons travel with whatever they decorate. The server's arrive when the client connects, on `client.server_info`:
+Icons travel with whatever they decorate. The server's arrive when the client connects, on `client.server_info` (optional on 2026-era connections, so narrow it first):
 
 ```python
+assert client.server_info is not None # python-sdk servers identify themselves by default
 client.server_info.icons # [Icon(src="https://example.com/brand-kit.png", mime_type="image/png", sizes=["48x48"])]
 ```