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Build an MCP router as an MCP server for its caller and an MCP client for each downstream server. The router discovers backend tools, publishes them under collision-safe names, and forwards each tool call to the right backend. The MCP Python SDK provides the client and server APIs, but the protocol does not prescribe a standard router implementation: backend selection, catalog refresh, filtering, and failure handling are design decisions.
What an MCP router does
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that connects LLM applications with external data sources and tools. In a routed setup, the upstream host connects to your router as if it were an MCP server. Your router connects to each backend as an MCP client. It combines selected backend capabilities into a public catalog and dispatches calls to their original destinations.
This is composition, not a special protocol role. The router must implement both sides of the connection and preserve the meaning of the results it forwards. A server can expose tools, resources, and prompts, which have different semantics: tools are model-selected actions, resources are read-only data selected by the application, and prompts are named templates. The example design below focuses on tools; add resource and prompt forwarding only if your application needs them.
Choose the SDK and connection layout
The official Python SDK documentation identifies v2 as its current stable release line and requires Python 3.10 or later. Install the plain SDK if you do not need its development CLI tools; use mcp[cli] when you do. Pin the major version in your dependency file rather than allowing an unnoticed major upgrade. The SDK repository describes v2 as a major rework and keeps v1 on a maintenance branch for critical fixes and security patches.
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The SDK package version and MCP protocol version are separate. The protocol revision dated 2026-07-28 may be negotiated when peers connect; installing SDK v2 alone does not make every connection use that revision. Confirm the SDK version and the protocol versions supported by the host and backends you actually deploy.
Use stdio for locally launched backends
With stdio, the host or router launches a local subprocess and sends JSON-RPC messages over stdin and stdout. Reserve stdout for protocol traffic; write diagnostics to stderr. The SDK gives child processes a minimal environment allow-list, so pass required credentials explicitly rather than assuming the subprocess inherits every parent environment variable.
Use Streamable HTTP for deployed backends
For networked deployments, the SDK recommends Streamable HTTP. Configure the exact endpoint URL where possible. The SDK rejects redirects across origins and does not follow an HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrade redirect. Its HTTP stack can be customized for headers, authentication, proxies, timeouts, and connection limits.
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Keep SSE for compatibility
The SDK retains Server-Sent Events (SSE) for servers and clients that have not migrated. The SDK documentation says Streamable HTTP superseded SSE in the 2025-03-26 protocol revision and advises against choosing SSE for a new system.
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Plan the public tool catalog
Before writing dispatch code, decide which backends and capabilities the router will expose. A single combined catalog is convenient for a host, but it also gives the router responsibility for collisions, access control, availability, and changes in backend tools.
Namespace tools to avoid collisions
Two backends may each publish a tool called search. Publish names such as files__read_file and search__query instead, and keep a mapping from each public name to its backend identity and original tool name. Server-prefixed tool names are also documented by the OpenAI Agents SDK as a collision-reduction approach; using prefixes in your own router is a design choice, not an MCP requirement. Define a stable naming rule, including how you handle punctuation, duplicate backend IDs, and names that would become identical after normalization.
Choose a catalog freshness policy
You can discover backend tools at startup and hold a static catalog, refresh on a timer, or rediscover on demand. A static catalog is simpler and avoids a discovery request on each host connection, but can become stale after a backend changes. Frequent refreshes expose changes sooner but increase backend traffic and make catalog behavior less predictable during outages. The SDK documentation does not prescribe a cache lifetime or refresh strategy, so choose one that matches how often your backends change.
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Define outage behavior up front
Specify whether a backend that fails discovery prevents the router from starting, is omitted while other tools remain available, or appears in a degraded state. Also decide what happens if it disconnects after discovery but before a call. Do not advertise a failed discovery as a successful empty catalog without making that behavior clear to the host or operator.
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Implement the forwarding path
Use one SDK Client per configured backend and manage each client with its asynchronous context manager. The basic dispatch algorithm is deliberately small; the parts that need application-specific decisions are catalog registration and how your server API exposes the generated tools.
- Connect: create and enter a client for each configured backend using its URL for Streamable HTTP,
StdioServerParametersfor a local subprocess, or a custom transport. - Discover: call the client’s tool-listing API and record every allowed tool with its backend ID, original name, and public prefixed name.
- Register: publish the selected tools from that mapping on the router’s server side. Preserve each tool’s input schema so the host can present valid arguments.
- Dispatch: look up the incoming public name, call the mapped backend with the original tool name and arguments, then return the backend result to the host.
- Report errors: preserve the backend’s error state and result content. The SDK documents typed results and warns callers to check the error flag before trusting structured content.
The SDK v2 documentation uses from mcp import Client for clients and from mcp.server import MCPServer for servers. A registered server tool can be a typed Python function with a docstring; the SDK derives its input schema from its type hints. Since the exact registration and server-running APIs can vary by SDK release, use the v2 server examples for the pinned release when connecting this forwarding core to your chosen transport. Do not copy v1 FastMCP imports into a v2 implementation.
Keep dispatch failures visible
Check that a public name exists before dispatching; return a clear tool-level error for unknown names rather than guessing a backend. If the backend call fails, do not replace the failure with a normal-looking success object or discard the error flag. If your policy retries, make it explicit and restrict retries to operations that are safe to repeat: a timed-out tool may have completed its side effect even when the router did not receive its response.
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Downstream metadata and tool descriptions should be treated as untrusted unless the server is trusted. The MCP security guidance emphasizes user consent and control, privacy protections, access controls, and caution around tool safety. A router should not silently use broad credentials of its own to give a caller access the caller would not otherwise have.
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- Decide which backends and tools each caller may see and invoke.
- Preserve the caller’s authorization boundary when forwarding credentials; document any service credentials the router uses and limit their scope.
- Review tool descriptions and arguments as inputs from the downstream server, not as trusted instructions.
- Keep secrets out of logs and avoid logging full arguments or results when they may contain private data.
- Require explicit operator or user consent for tools with consequential side effects.
Deploying over HTTP
The SDK HTTP server implements the MCP transport; it is not a full application server. For real hostnames, configure allowed hosts and origins as described in the SDK deployment guidance. Run the application under an ASGI server or process manager with production settings, and configure proxy headers correctly if TLS terminates in front of the application.
The SDK’s built-in subscription bus is in-process. If you run multiple replicas and need notifications shared across them, an external implementation is required. Decide how replicas share backend connection state, credentials, and catalog versions rather than assuming the SDK synchronizes those automatically.
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Each backend adds discovery work and another network or subprocess dependency to the call path. A request routed to one server generally needs only that backend’s response, but the router still needs a policy for backend timeouts and connection loss. Set finite timeouts appropriate to the tools you expose, and distinguish a slow backend from a router failure in logs and health reporting.
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Measure discovery duration, per-backend call latency, timeout and error counts, and catalog age. Keep operational logs on stderr for stdio deployments so they cannot corrupt the JSON-RPC stream. Avoid logging sensitive tool payloads by default.
Troubleshooting common failures
- The host sees duplicate or missing tools: inspect the public-name mapping and normalization rule. Prefix names with stable backend IDs and reject collisions during discovery instead of silently overwriting an entry.
- A backend works in a shell but not when launched by the router: verify executable paths, working directory, and explicitly passed environment variables. The SDK subprocess environment is intentionally minimal.
- HTTP connection fails after a redirect: configure the final endpoint directly. Cross-origin redirects are rejected, and HTTPS-to-HTTP downgrade redirects are not followed.
- A catalog shows old tools: check whether your implementation uses a startup snapshot, timed refresh, or on-demand discovery. Refresh according to the policy you chose and make catalog age observable.
- A call is reported as successful although the backend failed: inspect the typed result’s error flag and preserve it when returning the result; do not trust structured content without checking that flag.
- Diagnostics corrupt a stdio connection: move application logs and print statements to stderr. stdout must contain only protocol messages.
- One failed server prevents all tools from appearing: determine whether your startup policy is fail-fast or partial-catalog. If partial availability is intended, isolate discovery errors per backend and report the missing backend clearly.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Does an MCP router need to forward resources and prompts as well as tools?
No. Decide which server primitives your host needs; a tools-only router can be a deliberate scope choice.
Is tool-name prefixing required by MCP?
No. It is an aggregation strategy for avoiding collisions between backends, not a protocol requirement.
Does SDK v2 automatically select the latest MCP protocol revision?
No. The SDK package version and the protocol version negotiated between peers are distinct.
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