MCP Conformance Test Framework

A framework for testing MCP (Model Context Protocol) client and server implementations against the specification.

For SDK maintainers: See SDK Integration Guide for a streamlined guide on integrating conformance tests into your SDK repository.

Quick Start

Testing Clients

# Using the everything-client (recommended)
npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance client --command "tsx examples/clients/typescript/everything-client.ts" --scenario initialize

# Run an entire suite of tests
npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance client --command "tsx examples/clients/typescript/everything-client.ts" --suite auth

Testing Servers

# Run all server scenarios (default)
npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance server --url http://localhost:3000/mcp

# Run a single scenario
npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance server --url http://localhost:3000/mcp --scenario server-initialize

List Available Scenarios

npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance list

Overview

The conformance test framework validates MCP implementations by:

For Clients:

1. Starting a test server for the specified scenario
2. Running the client implementation with the test server URL
3. Capturing MCP protocol interactions
4. Running conformance checks against the specification
5. Generating detailed test results

For Servers:

1. Connecting to the running server as an MCP client
2. Sending test requests and capturing responses
3. Running conformance checks against server behavior
4. Generating detailed test results

Usage

Client Testing

npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance client --command "<client-command>" --scenario <scenario-name> [options]

Options:

• --command - The command to run your MCP client (can include flags)
• --scenario - The test scenario to run (e.g., "initialize")
• --suite - Run a suite of tests in parallel: all, core, extensions, backcompat, auth, metadata, draft (scenarios targeting the in-progress draft spec), or sep-835
• --spec-version <version> - Filter scenarios by spec version (e.g., 2025-11-25, 2026-07-28; draft is accepted as an alias for the current draft identifier). The draft version selects the latest dated release plus any draft-only scenarios. When omitted, the version is inferred from the scenario's spec applicability (draft-only scenarios run at the draft version, everything else at the latest dated release); an explicitly requested version outside a scenario's applicability window skips the scenario (exit 0) unless --force is passed
• --force - Run a scenario even if it is not applicable at the requested --spec-version
• --expected-failures <path> - Path to YAML baseline file of known failures (see Expected Failures)
• --timeout - Timeout in milliseconds (default: 30000)
• --verbose - Show verbose output

The framework appends <server-url> as an argument to your command and sets the MCP_CONFORMANCE_SCENARIO environment variable to the scenario name. For scenarios that require additional context (e.g., client credentials), the MCP_CONFORMANCE_CONTEXT environment variable contains a JSON object with scenario-specific data. When --spec-version is passed, its resolved value is forwarded to the client process as MCP_CONFORMANCE_PROTOCOL_VERSION; example clients can use this value directly as their protocolVersion. SDKs that hard-code their protocol version can ignore it. Clients under test must derive the lifecycle from the protocol version they are asked to run: dated versions through 2025-11-25 use the stateful lifecycle (initialize handshake), while the 2026 draft (2026-07-28) uses the stateless lifecycle (per-request _meta).

Server Testing

npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance server --url <url> [--scenario <scenario>]

Options:

• --url - URL of the server to test
• --scenario <scenario> - Test scenario to run (e.g., "server-initialize"). Runs all available scenarios by default
• --suite <suite> - Suite to run: "active" (default; excludes pending and draft-spec scenarios), "all", "draft" (scenarios targeting the in-progress draft spec), or "pending"
• --expected-failures <path> - Path to YAML baseline file of known failures (see Expected Failures)
• --verbose - Show verbose output

Test Results

Client Testing - Results are saved to results/<scenario>-<timestamp>/:

• checks.json - Array of conformance check results with pass/fail status
• stdout.txt - Client stdout output
• stderr.txt - Client stderr output

Server Testing - Results are saved to results/server-<scenario>-<timestamp>/:

• checks.json - Array of conformance check results with pass/fail status

Expected Failures

SDKs that don't yet pass all conformance tests can specify a baseline of known failures. This allows running conformance tests in CI without failing, while still catching regressions.

Create a YAML file listing expected failures by mode:

# conformance-baseline.yml
server:
  - tools-call-with-progress
  - resources-subscribe
client:
  - sse-retry

Then pass it to the CLI:

npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance server --url http://localhost:3000/mcp --expected-failures ./conformance-baseline.yml

Exit code behavior:

Scenario Result	In Baseline?	Outcome
Fails	Yes	Exit 0 — expected failure
Fails	No	Exit 1 — unexpected regression
Passes	Yes	Exit 1 — stale baseline, remove the entry
Passes	No	Exit 0 — normal pass

This ensures:

• CI passes when only known failures occur
• CI fails on new regressions (unexpected failures)
• CI fails when a fix lands but the baseline isn't updated (stale entries)

Baselining a single check

A scenario is many checks — server-stateless alone is over twenty — so baselining the whole scenario to excuse one of them stops enforcing the other nineteen. An entry can instead name a single check, as <scenario>:<check-id>:

server:
  - tasks-lifecycle # whole scenario may fail
  - server-stateless:sep-2575-server-implements-discover # only this check may fail

The check id is the left-hand column the runner already prints for each check, so it can be copied straight out of a failing run.

With a per-check entry, every failing check in that scenario is judged on its own: the named one is excused, and any other failure is still an unexpected regression. The four exit-code rules above apply per check rather than per scenario, with one addition — a baselined check that is absent or skipped is tolerated, because a scenario that bails on a failed prerequisite legitimately never reaches its later checks, and the prerequisite reports its own failure anyway.

Two things to know:

• A check id addresses every occurrence of that id. Ids repeat within a run (a loop, a retried flow), and the occurrences collapse to one verdict, most-severe first. So baselining a repeated id excuses all of its occurrences — coarser than ideal, still far narrower than baselining the scenario.
• Mind the space. - scenario:check-id is a string; - scenario: check-id is YAML for a mapping and is rejected with an error.

A scenario cannot be listed both wholesale and per-check — the wholesale entry already excuses everything, so the pair is contradictory and is rejected.

GitHub Action

This repo provides a composite GitHub Action so SDK repos don't need to write their own conformance scripts.

Server Testing

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4

  # Start your server (SDK-specific)
  - run: |
      my-server --port 3001 &
      timeout 15 bash -c 'until curl -s http://localhost:3001/mcp; do sleep 0.5; done'

  - uses: modelcontextprotocol/conformance@v0.1.11
    with:
      mode: server
      url: http://localhost:3001/mcp
      expected-failures: ./conformance-baseline.yml # optional

Client Testing

steps:
  - uses: actions/checkout@v4

  - uses: modelcontextprotocol/conformance@v0.1.11
    with:
      mode: client
      command: 'python tests/conformance/client.py'
      expected-failures: ./conformance-baseline.yml # optional

Action Inputs

Input	Required	Description
mode	Yes	server or client
url	Server mode	URL of the server to test
command	Client mode	Command to run the client under test
expected-failures	No	Path to YAML baseline file
suite	No	Test suite to run
scenario	No	Run a single scenario by name
timeout	No	Timeout in ms for client tests (default: 30000)
verbose	No	Show verbose output (default: false)
node-version	No	Node.js version (default: 20)

Example Clients

• examples/clients/typescript/everything-client.ts - Single client that handles all scenarios based on scenario name (recommended)
• examples/clients/typescript/test1.ts - Simple MCP client (for reference)
• examples/clients/typescript/auth-test.ts - Well-behaved OAuth client (for reference)

Available Scenarios

Client Scenarios

• initialize - Tests MCP client initialization handshake
  • Validates protocol version
  • Validates clientInfo (name and version)
  • Validates server response handling
• tools-call - Tests tool invocation
• auth/basic-dcr - Tests OAuth Dynamic Client Registration flow
• auth/basic-metadata-var1 - Tests OAuth with authorization metadata

Server Scenarios

Run npx @modelcontextprotocol/conformance list --server to see all available server scenarios, including:

• server-initialize - Tests server initialization and capabilities
• tools-list - Tests tool listing endpoint
• tools-call-* - Various tool invocation scenarios
• resources-* - Resource management scenarios
• prompts-* - Prompt management scenarios

Running Against an SDK at a Specific Ref

The sdk subcommand clones an SDK repository at a given ref, builds it, and runs the local conformance build against it. This is the inner-loop tool for scenario authors and the basis for cross-SDK CI. Examples below use npm start -- so they run from source — no npm run build between edits.

--mode client or --mode server is required — each invocation tests exactly one side, so client and server are run (and pass/fail) independently.

# Run the client conformance suite against typescript-sdk @main (v2)
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk --mode client

# Run the server conformance suite (separate invocation)
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk --mode server

# A specific main-line SHA or branch (v2 monorepo)
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk@abc123f --mode client
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk@some-branch --mode server

# The published v1.x line — separate entry (npm build), defaults to the v1.x branch
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk-v1 --mode client
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk-v1@v1.29.0 --mode server

# Use an existing local checkout (no clone, no fetch)
npm start -- sdk --path ../typescript-sdk --skip-build --mode client

# Narrow to one scenario / suite
npm start -- sdk --path ../typescript-sdk --mode server --scenario server-initialize
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk --mode client --suite auth

# Target a specific spec version (passed through to the underlying run).
# When omitted, the SDK's `specVersion` from KNOWN_SDKS is used, if set —
# e.g. typescript-sdk-v1 defaults to 2025-11-25.
npm start -- sdk typescript-sdk --mode client --spec-version draft

Build/run commands for each official SDK are looked up by name from src/sdk-runner/known-sdks.ts — no config file is required in the SDK repo. Resolution order is CLI flag > built-in entry, so any field can be overridden on the command line for refs that diverge from the built-in.

An SDK can have more than one entry when its layout differs across major versions — e.g. typescript-sdk (v2, the main monorepo) and typescript-sdk-v1 (the published npm v1.x line). An entry may set defaultRef (the branch used when you don't pass @<ref>) and repo (the real clone target when the entry name is an alias). Overriding built-in fields for a one-off run:

# e.g. a 2026-07-28 run against go-sdk's server — the built-in server command
# pins -stateless=false (what the dated-spec suites need), so override it to
# get the SEP-2575 stateless lifecycle:
npm start -- sdk go-sdk --mode server --suite all --spec-version 2026-07-28 \
  --server-cmd './.conformance-server -http=localhost:3000'

To add a new SDK to the matrix, add an entry to KNOWN_SDKS.

Clones are cached under .sdk-under-test/ and reused (fetched) on subsequent runs.

SDK Tier Assessment

The tier-check subcommand evaluates an MCP SDK repository against SEP-1730 (the SDK Tiering System):

# Without conformance tests (fastest)
gh auth login
npm run --silent tier-check -- --repo modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk --skip-conformance

# With conformance tests (start the everything server first)
npm run --silent tier-check -- \
  --repo modelcontextprotocol/typescript-sdk \
  --conformance-server-url http://localhost:3000/mcp

For a full AI-assisted assessment with remediation guide, use Claude Code:

/mcp-sdk-tier-audit <local-sdk-path> <conformance-server-url>

See .claude/skills/mcp-sdk-tier-audit/README.md for full documentation.

Architecture

See src/runner/DESIGN.md for detailed architecture documentation.

Key Components

• Runner (src/runner/) - Orchestrates test execution and result generation
  • client.ts - Client testing implementation
  • server.ts - Server testing implementation
  • utils.ts - Shared utilities
  • index.ts - Public API exports
• CLI (src/index.ts) - Command-line interface using Commander.js
• Scenarios (src/scenarios/) - Test scenarios with expected behaviors
• Checks (src/checks/) - Conformance validation functions
• Types (src/types.ts) - Shared type definitions

Adding New Scenarios

1. Create a new directory in src/scenarios/<scenario-name>/
2. Implement the Scenario interface with start(), stop(), and getChecks()
3. Register the scenario in src/scenarios/index.ts

See src/scenarios/initialize/ for a reference implementation.