go-sdk/docs/client.md
Robert Findley ac2f175214
docs: add feature and troubleshooting documentation (#463)
Add a framework for feature documentation, and start populating it with
our SDK documentation.

This framework is as follows:
- internal/docs/**.src.md is the markdown source for the docs/
  directory.
- The x/example/internal/cmd/weave tool is used to compile these docs to
  the top-level docs, supporting both linked code samples and generated
  tables of contents.
- The readme-check workflow is updated to check these docs as well.
- The structure of these docs follows the MCP spec.
- Wherever possible, example code is linked from actual Go documentation
  examples, so that it is testable.

Some minor modifications to the weave tool were made to support this
framework.

Additionally, partially fill out this documentation with content on
base protocol and client features, as well as troubleshooting help.

Along the way, a bug was encountered that our LoggingTransport was not
concurrency safe. This is fixed with a mutex.

Fixes https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk/issues/466
Fixes https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk/issues/409
Updates https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/go-sdk/issues/442
2025-09-16 11:13:40 -04:00

5.5 KiB

Support for MCP client features

  1. Roots
  2. Sampling
  3. Elicitation

Roots

MCP allows clients to specify a set of filesystem "roots". The SDK supports this as follows:

Client-side: The SDK client always has the roots.listChanged capability. To add roots to a client, use the Client.AddRoots and Client.RemoveRoots methods. If any servers are already connected to the client, a call to AddRoot or RemoveRoots will result in a notifications/roots/list_changed notification to each connected server.

Server-side: To query roots from the server, use the ServerSession.ListRoots method. To receive notifications about root changes, set ServerOptions.RootsListChangedHandler.

func Example_roots() {
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Create a client with a single root.
	c := mcp.NewClient(&mcp.Implementation{Name: "client", Version: "v0.0.1"}, nil)
	c.AddRoots(&mcp.Root{URI: "file://a"})

	// Now create a server with a handler to receive notifications about roots.
	rootsChanged := make(chan struct{})
	handleRootsChanged := func(ctx context.Context, req *mcp.RootsListChangedRequest) {
		rootList, err := req.Session.ListRoots(ctx, nil)
		if err != nil {
			log.Fatal(err)
		}
		var roots []string
		for _, root := range rootList.Roots {
			roots = append(roots, root.URI)
		}
		fmt.Println(roots)
		close(rootsChanged)
	}
	s := mcp.NewServer(&mcp.Implementation{Name: "server", Version: "v0.0.1"}, &mcp.ServerOptions{
		RootsListChangedHandler: handleRootsChanged,
	})

	// Connect the server and client...
	t1, t2 := mcp.NewInMemoryTransports()
	if _, err := s.Connect(ctx, t1, nil); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	if _, err := c.Connect(ctx, t2, nil); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	// ...and add a root. The server is notified about the change.
	c.AddRoots(&mcp.Root{URI: "file://b"})
	<-rootsChanged
	// Output: [file://a file://b]
}

Sampling

Sampling is a way for servers to leverage the client's AI capabilities. It is implemented in the SDK as follows:

Client-side: To add the sampling capability to a client, set ClientOptions.CreateMessageHandler. This function is invoked whenever the server requests sampling.

Server-side: To use sampling from the server, call ServerSession.CreateMessage.

func Example_sampling() {
	ctx := context.Background()

	// Create a client with a sampling handler.
	c := mcp.NewClient(&mcp.Implementation{Name: "client", Version: "v0.0.1"}, &mcp.ClientOptions{
		CreateMessageHandler: func(_ context.Context, req *mcp.CreateMessageRequest) (*mcp.CreateMessageResult, error) {
			return &mcp.CreateMessageResult{
				Content: &mcp.TextContent{
					Text: "would have created a message",
				},
			}, nil
		},
	})

	// Connect the server and client...
	ct, st := mcp.NewInMemoryTransports()
	s := mcp.NewServer(&mcp.Implementation{Name: "server", Version: "v0.0.1"}, nil)
	session, err := s.Connect(ctx, st, nil)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer session.Close()

	if _, err := c.Connect(ctx, ct, nil); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}

	msg, err := session.CreateMessage(ctx, &mcp.CreateMessageParams{})
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Println(msg.Content.(*mcp.TextContent).Text)
	// Output: would have created a message
}

Elicitation

Elicitation allows servers to request user inputs. It is implemented in the SDK as follows:

Client-side: To add the elicitation capability to a client, set ClientOptions.ElicitationHandler. The elicitation handler must return a result that matches the requested schema; otherwise, elicitation returns an error.

Server-side: To use elicitation from the server, call ServerSession.Elicit.

func Example_elicitation() {
	ctx := context.Background()
	ct, st := mcp.NewInMemoryTransports()

	s := mcp.NewServer(&mcp.Implementation{Name: "server", Version: "v0.0.1"}, nil)
	ss, err := s.Connect(ctx, st, nil)
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	defer ss.Close()

	c := mcp.NewClient(testImpl, &mcp.ClientOptions{
		ElicitationHandler: func(context.Context, *mcp.ElicitRequest) (*mcp.ElicitResult, error) {
			return &mcp.ElicitResult{Action: "accept", Content: map[string]any{"test": "value"}}, nil
		},
	})
	if _, err := c.Connect(ctx, ct, nil); err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	res, err := ss.Elicit(ctx, &mcp.ElicitParams{
		Message: "This should fail",
		RequestedSchema: &jsonschema.Schema{
			Type: "object",
			Properties: map[string]*jsonschema.Schema{
				"test": {Type: "string"},
			},
		},
	})
	if err != nil {
		log.Fatal(err)
	}
	fmt.Println(res.Content["test"])
	// Output: value
}