[Proposal] Transport - Http with Webhooks #182
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This transport proposal aims to optimize Server to Server communication (hosted clients), especially around long-running sessions and operations. To make MCP work for long running tasks like deep analysis, this proposal defines a transport that leverages http webhooks for bidirectionality. So whilst the SSE transport enables remote servers, a webhook based approach enables remoteness without the need of long-lived open socket connections. As an extension of this transport, we could introduce an (optional) SSE endpoint for message streaming for reduced latency. However, it is critical to not bind the lifetime of the session to the request lifetime.
darrelmiller
reviewed
Mar 5, 2025
Co-authored-by: Darrel <[email protected]>
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We really want to avoid a proliferation of different official transports, as each new transport multiplies the overall compatibility matrix and makes the ecosystem more complex. We have a forthcoming proposal that should simplify + replace the SSE transport, while also addressing the concerns here, so I'll go ahead and close this. I want to thank you for writing this up, though! Really appreciate the time you've put in here. 🙏 |
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Motivation and Context
This formalized transport proposal aims to optimize Server to Server communication (hosted clients), focused on long-running sessions and operations.
To make MCP work for long running tasks like deep analysis, this proposal defines a transport that leverages http webhooks and callbacks for bidirectionality.
So whilst the SSE transport enables remote servers, a webhook based approach enables remoteness without the need of long-lived open socket connections.
As an extension of this transport, we could introduce an (optional) SSE endpoint to enable message streaming for reduced latency. However, it is critical to not bind the lifetime of the session to this request lifetime.
This transport ensures that the full feature set of MCP remains functional, whilst allowing servers to leverage short lived http connections.
How Has This Been Tested?
The proposed transport has been implemented and validated as a custom transport.
We aim to bring this proposal to see whether there is enough value and consensus to uplift the transport from a custom transport to a standard, given the integration patterns it unlocks.
Breaking Changes
Additive change - new transport
Types of changes
Checklist
Additional context