Add a client extension API (#3034)

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@ -2,9 +2,10 @@
An **extension** is an opt-in bundle of MCP behaviour behind one identifier.
It can contribute tools, resources, and new request methods, and it can wrap `tools/call`.
The server advertises it under `capabilities.extensions`, the client opts in the same way,
and nothing changes for anyone who didn't ask for it. That is the contract ([SEP-2133](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/2133)), and
On a server it can contribute tools, resources, and new request methods, and it can wrap
`tools/call`. On a client it can claim extra `tools/call` result shapes and observe vendor
notifications. Each side advertises under its own `capabilities.extensions`, and nothing
changes for anyone who didn't ask for it. That is the contract ([SEP-2133](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/2133)), and
it has one golden rule: **extensions are off by default**.
## Using an extension
@ -79,7 +80,7 @@ And `main()` is the proof, an in-memory client straight against `mcp`:
An extension can register **new request methods**: its own verbs, served next to the
spec's:
```python title="server.py" hl_lines="15-21 30 39-47"
```python title="server.py" hl_lines="16-22 31 40-48"
--8<-- "docs_src/extensions/tutorial004.py"
```
@ -108,19 +109,19 @@ runtime:
The same file's `main()` is the whole client story, both halves of it:
```python title="server.py" hl_lines="53-57"
```python title="server.py" hl_lines="54-58"
--8<-- "docs_src/extensions/tutorial004.py"
```
* `Client(..., extensions={EXTENSION_ID: {}})` declares the extension. That map
becomes `ClientCapabilities.extensions`: on a 2026-07-28 connection it travels in
the per-request `_meta` envelope, so the server sees it on **every** request; on
a legacy connection it rides the `initialize` handshake. Server code doesn't care
which: `require_client_extension(ctx, ...)` and
* `Client(..., extensions=[advertise(EXTENSION_ID)])` declares the extension. The
declarations become `ClientCapabilities.extensions`: on a 2026-07-28 connection
the map travels in the per-request `_meta` envelope, so the server sees it on
**every** request; on a legacy connection it rides the `initialize` handshake.
Server code doesn't care which: `require_client_extension(ctx, ...)` and
`ctx.session.check_client_capability(...)` read the right source on both paths.
* Vendor methods drop one layer to `client.session.send_request(...)`; `Client`
only grows first-class methods for spec verbs. The `cast` is there because
`send_request` is typed against the spec's closed request union.
only grows first-class methods for spec verbs. `send_request` accepts any
`Request` subclass, so the vendor request passes as-is.
### Intercepting `tools/call`
@ -144,15 +145,104 @@ or veto a tool call:
The hook wraps `tools/call` and nothing else. For every-message concerns, use
[Middleware](middleware.md). That is what it is for.
## Using a client extension
A **client extension** is the same contract from the consuming side: a bundle of
client-side behaviour behind one identifier. Pass instances to
`Client(extensions=[...])` and call tools normally:
```python title="client.py" hl_lines="67-69"
--8<-- "docs_src/extensions/tutorial006.py"
```
`call_tool("buy", ...)` returns a plain `CallToolResult`, like every other call. What
the extension changed: the server may now answer `buy` with a `receipt` **result
shape** instead of a final result, and `Receipts` finishes it (here by redeeming the
receipt with a follow-up call) before `call_tool` returns. Nothing about the call
site moves.
Drop the extension and none of this exists: the server's gate refuses a client
that did not declare it (error -32021), and a claimed shape from a server that
skips the gate fails validation, exactly as the spec requires for an
unrecognized `resultType`. Off by default, on both ends of the wire.
To advertise an identifier with **no** client-side behaviour (the server gates on
the capability, the client does nothing, as in the search client above), use
`advertise()`:
```python
from mcp.client import advertise
client = Client(mcp, extensions=[advertise("com.example/search")])
```
## Writing a client extension
Subclass `ClientExtension` and override only what you need. Three contribution
kinds, each with a default: `settings()`, `claims()`, and `notifications()`.
```python title="client.py" hl_lines="18-19 44-45 47-48"
--8<-- "docs_src/extensions/tutorial006.py"
```
* The identifier follows the same grammar as the server's, validated when the class
is defined.
* `claims()` returns `ResultClaim`s: a wire tag, the model that parses it, and the
resolver that finishes it. The model must pin the tag with
`result_type: Literal["receipt"]` and must not subclass the verb's core result
types; both are enforced when the claim is constructed. Vendor fields like
`receipt_token` ride the wire as-is: a substituted shape reaches the client
verbatim.
* The resolver receives the parsed model and a `ClaimContext`; `ctx.session` is the
same public handle as `client.session`, so follow-ups are ordinary session calls.
It returns the verb's normal `CallToolResult`.
* `settings()` is the value advertised at `ClientCapabilities.extensions[identifier]`,
read once at `Client` construction.
`notifications()` declares vendor server notifications to observe:
```python
def notifications(self) -> Sequence[NotificationBinding[Any]]:
return [NotificationBinding(method="notifications/receipts", params_type=ReceiptEvent, handler=self.on_receipt)]
```
The handler receives validated params one at a time, in dispatch order. It observes; it cannot veto
or reply.
Two quiet rules. Claims are active on 2026-07-28 connections only, and the capability
ad follows them: on a legacy connection the claims dissolve and the identifier drops
out of the ad with them, so the client never advertises an extension whose shapes it
would reject. And when you want the claimed shape yourself instead of the resolver,
call `client.session.call_tool(..., allow_claimed=True)`; without that flag, a
claimed shape reaching a session-tier caller raises `UnexpectedClaimedResult`.
### Extension verbs
An extension's own request methods need no client-side registration. A vendor request
type subclasses `mcp_types.Request` and goes through `client.session.send_request`,
as in [Serving your own methods](#serving-your-own-methods). One addition: when a
params key must ride the `Mcp-Name` header (extension specs such as tasks require
this for their verbs), the request type declares `name_param`:
```python title="client.py" hl_lines="23-26 47-48"
--8<-- "docs_src/extensions/tutorial007.py"
```
The session mirrors `params["jobId"]` into `Mcp-Name` on every send path, and a
missing value fails loudly rather than silently omitting a required header.
## What an extension cannot do
The contribution surface is **closed** on purpose: settings, tools, resources,
methods, one `tools/call` interceptor. An extension cannot:
The contribution surface is **closed** on purpose. On the server: settings, tools,
resources, methods, one `tools/call` interceptor. On the client: settings, result
claims, notification bindings. An extension cannot:
* **Reach into the server.** It declares data; it holds no server reference.
* **Replace core behaviour.** Spec methods are rejected at construction, and
`initialize` is reserved by the runner outright.
* **Register late.** After `MCPServer(...)` returns, the extension set is what it is.
* **Reach into the host.** It declares data; it holds no server or client reference.
* **Replace core behaviour.** Spec methods and core result tags are rejected at
construction (`initialize` is reserved by the runner outright); a notification
binding shadowed by core vocabulary goes quiet with a warning instead.
* **Register late.** After `MCPServer(...)` or `Client(...)` returns, the extension
set is what it is.
If you are fighting these walls, you are not writing an extension. You are writing
a fork. The walls are the feature: a user reading `extensions=[Apps(), Stamps()]`

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@ -469,11 +469,42 @@ extension handler can call `mcp.server.mcpserver.require_client_extension(ctx, i
to reject a request with the `-32021` (missing required client capability) error
when the client did not declare the extension.
Clients advertise extension support with the new `Client(extensions=...)` /
`ClientSession(extensions=...)` argument, mirrored into `ClientCapabilities.extensions`.
The extensions capability map is negotiated over `server/discover` (modern path);
a legacy `initialize` handshake does not carry it. Extensions are off by default
and never alter behaviour unless registered.
On the client, `Client(extensions=...)` takes a sequence of
`mcp.client.ClientExtension` instances. A client extension contributes its
capability ad (mirrored into `ClientCapabilities.extensions`), its result
claims (extra `tools/call` result shapes that `Client.call_tool` resolves
transparently through the claim's resolver), and its notification bindings
(handlers for vendor server notifications). The capability map rides
`server/discover` and every modern request's `_meta` envelope; a legacy
`initialize` handshake carries only the claim-less identifiers, since claimed
result shapes cannot be delivered on a legacy wire. Extensions are off by
default and never alter behaviour unless registered. (The low-level
`ClientSession(extensions=...)` keeps the raw identifier-to-settings dict.)
Changed in the v2 pre-releases: earlier alphas took
`Client(extensions={identifier: settings})`, an advertisement-only dict.
Extensions now contribute behaviour (claims and notification handlers), not
just an ad, so the argument is a sequence of declaration objects. An ad-only
entry becomes an `advertise()` call:
**Before (v2 alphas):**
```python
client = Client(server, extensions={"com.example/ui": {"mimeTypes": [...]}})
```
**After:**
```python
from mcp.client import advertise
client = Client(server, extensions=[advertise("com.example/ui", {"mimeTypes": [...]})])
```
`advertise()` is only for identifiers with no client-side behaviour. For a
behavioural extension (e.g. tasks, once its extension ships), construct that
extension's object instead; advertising an identifier you do not implement
asserts wire support you don't have.
### `McpError` renamed to `MCPError`