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The official Python SDK for Model Context Protocol servers and clients

MCP Servers23.9k stars3.7k forksPythonMITUpdated today
Install in Claude Code / Claude Desktop
Method: pip / Python · mcp
Claude Code CLI
claude mcp add python-sdk -- python -m mcp
claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "python-sdk": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "mcp"]
    }
  }
}
1. Run the command above in your terminal (Claude Code), or paste the JSON config into claude_desktop_config.json (Claude Desktop).
2. Replace any <placeholder> values with your API keys or paths.
3. Restart Claude. The MCP server and its tools appear automatically.
💡 Install first: pip install mcp
Use cases

MCP Servers overview

# MCP Python SDK

<div align="center">

<strong>Python implementation of the Model Context Protocol (MCP)</strong>

[![PyPI][pypi-badge]][pypi-url]
[![MIT licensed][mit-badge]][mit-url]
[![Python Version][python-badge]][python-url]
[![Documentation][docs-badge]][docs-url]
[![Protocol][protocol-badge]][protocol-url]
[![Specification][spec-badge]][spec-url]

</div>

> [!NOTE]
> **This is v2 of the MCP Python SDK, the current stable release line.** It is a major rework of the SDK, both to support the [2026-07-28 MCP specification](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28) (and every earlier revision) and to fix long-standing architectural issues. Coming from v1? See [What's new in v2](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/whats-new/) for the tour of what changed and the [migration guide](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/migration/) for every breaking change.
>
> **Not ready to migrate?** v1.x lives on the [`v1.x` branch](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/tree/v1.x), continues to receive critical bug fixes and security patches, and is documented at <https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/v1/>. Since `pip install mcp` now installs 2.x, keep a `<2` upper bound on your requirement (for example `mcp>=1.28,<2`) until you've migrated.
>
> Something rough, confusing, or broken? [Open an issue](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/issues/new?template=v2-feedback.yaml) or find us in [#python-sdk-dev on the MCP Contributors Discord](https://discord.gg/6CSzBmMkjX).

## Documentation

**The documentation lives at <https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/>.**

It has a [Get started guide](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/get-started/), [What's new in v2](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/whats-new/), the [API reference](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/api/mcp/), and the [migration guide](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/migration/).

## What is MCP?

The [Model Context Protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io) lets you build servers that expose data and functionality to LLM applications in a secure, standardized way. Think of it like a web API, but designed for LLM interactions. With this SDK you can:

- **Build MCP servers** that expose tools, resources, and prompts to any MCP host
- **Build MCP clients** that connect to any MCP server
- Speak every standard transport: stdio, Streamable HTTP, and SSE

## Requirements

Python 3.10+.

## Installation

```bash
uv add "mcp[cli]"      # or: pip install "mcp[cli]"
```

The `cli` extra adds the `mcp` command-line tool (`mcp dev`, `mcp run`, `mcp install`) on top of the SDK; install plain `mcp` if you don't need it. For one-off commands, `uv run --with "mcp[cli]" mcp ...` works without a project.

## A server in 15 lines

Create a `server.py`:

<!-- snippet-source docs_src/index/tutorial001.py -->
```python
from mcp.server import MCPServer

mcp = MCPServer("Demo")


@mcp.tool()
def add(a: int, b: int) -> int:
    """Add two numbers."""
    return a + b


@mcp.resource("greeting://{name}")
def greeting(name: str) -> str:
    """Greet someone by name."""
    return f"Hello, {name}!"
```

_Full example: [docs_src/index/tutorial001.py](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/blob/main/docs_src/index/tutorial001.py)_
<!-- /snippet-source -->

That's a complete MCP server: one tool, one templated resource. Open it in the [MCP Inspector](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/inspector):

```bash
uv run mcp dev server.py
```

Call `add` with `a=1`, `b=2` and you get `3` back.

Notice what you did **not** write: no JSON Schema (`a: int, b: int` _is_ the schema), no request parsing, no validation code, no protocol handling. Two type-hinted Python functions and a docstring.

[Get started](https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/get-started/) takes it from here.

## A client in 10 lines

The same package is a full MCP **client**. `Client` connects to a URL, a stdio subprocess, a custom transport, or (for tests) straight to a server object in memory with no transport at all:

```python
import asyncio

from mcp import Client

from server import mcp


async def main() -> None:
    async with Client(mcp) as client:
        result = await client.call_tool("add", {"a": 1, "b": 2})
        print(result.structured_content)  # {'result': 3}


asyncio.run(main())
```

Swap `mcp` for `"http://localhost:8000/mcp"` and the exact same code talks to a remote server.

## Contributing

We are passionate about supporting contributors of all levels of experience and would love to see you get involved in the project. See the [contributing guide](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/blob/main/CONTRIBUTING.md) to get started.

## License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the [LICENSE](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/blob/main/LICENSE) file for details.

[pypi-badge]: https://img.shields.io/pypi/v/mcp.svg
[pypi-url]: https://pypi.org/project/mcp/
[mit-badge]: https://img.shields.io/pypi/l/mcp.svg
[mit-url]: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk/blob/main/LICENSE
[python-badge]: https://img.shields.io/pypi/pyversions/mcp.svg
[python-url]: https://www.python.org/downloads/
[docs-badge]: https://img.shields.io/badge/docs-python--sdk-blue.svg
[docs-url]: https://py.sdk.modelcontextprotocol.io/
[protocol-badge]: https://img.shields.io/badge/protocol-modelcontextprotocol.io-blue.svg
[protocol-url]: https://modelcontextprotocol.io
[spec-badge]: https://img.shields.io/badge/spec-spec.modelcontextprotocol.io-blue.svg
[spec-url]: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/latest
mcpmcp-clientmcp-serverpython

What people ask about python-sdk

What is modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk?

+

modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk is mcp servers for the Claude AI ecosystem. The official Python SDK for Model Context Protocol servers and clients It has 23.9k GitHub stars and was last updated today.

How do I install python-sdk?

+

You can install python-sdk by cloning the repository (https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk) or following the README instructions on GitHub. ClaudeWave also provides quick install blocks on this page.

Is modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk safe to use?

+

modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk has not been audited yet by our security agent. Review the original repository on GitHub before using it in production.

Who maintains modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk?

+

modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk is maintained by modelcontextprotocol. The last recorded GitHub activity is from today, with 499 open issues.

Are there alternatives to python-sdk?

+

Yes. On ClaudeWave you can browse similar mcp servers at /categories/mcp, sorted by popularity or recent activity.

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