Getting started
Key resources
- SDK Examples: TypeScript and Python SDKs contain server implementation examples
- Protocol Specification: modelcontextprotocol.io
- Hosting Solutions: Platforms like Cloudflare offer remote MCP server hosting with autoscaling and OAuth management
- Auth Specifications: Review the authorization spec with emphasis on third-party service flows
Transport & authentication
Supported transports
Claude supports both SSE and HTTP-based transports, though SSE may be deprecated soon.Authentication features
- Supports both 2025-03-26 and 2025-06-18 auth specifications
- Dynamic Client Registration (DCR) enabled
- OAuth callback:
https://claude.ai/api/mcp/auth_callback - Token refresh and expiry support
- Custom credentials for non-DCR servers
Protocol features
Supported
Not yet supported
- Resource subscriptions
- Sampling
- Advanced/draft capabilities
Technical specifications
| Constraint | Limit |
|---|---|
| Max token size for tool results | 25,000 tokens |
| Claude Code timeout | Configurable via MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT |
| Claude.ai/Desktop timeout | 300 seconds (5 minutes) |
| Transport protocol | Streamable HTTP (SSE being deprecated) |
Testing your server
- Add directly to Claude via Settings > Connectors
- Use the MCP inspector tool to validate auth flows