feat: add 2026-04-29 weekly meeting notes (#37)

meetings/2026-04-29_weekly.md

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+# **2026-04-29 MCP: Transport Working Group (Weekly)**
+
+# **TL;DR**
+
+The meeting focused on the stateless transition timeline, SDK conformance
+testing versioning, and proposed feature agendas for future releases. Discussion
+centered on the transition of the initialization flow to `serverdiscover` under
+standard IO and the introduction of an E-tag mechanism for optimistic
+concurrency correctness. Tensions arose regarding whether standard IO can
+natively support headers for features like E-tags, leading the group to identify
+the need for exploring HTTP over standard IO. Proposals for streaming and raw
+binary handling were identified as priorities for the release after next, while
+encryption and compression proposals were tabled due to a lack of immediate
+customer demand.
+
+# **Detailed Summary**
+
+## **Stateless Migration & Conformance Testing**
+
+* **Initialize Flow Removal:** The transition to a stateless architecture
+  involves removing the initialization call in favor of a `serverdiscover` (or
+  `initialize server discover`) call to determine protocol versions and remove
+  session constraints.  
+* **Testing and Merging Timeline:** The final lock-in date for SEPs is April
+  30th, and approved SEPs must have conformance tests merged by May 15th before
+  they are finalized at the end of June. All Tier 1 SDKs (TypeScript and Python)
+  are expected to implement changes by the release date.  
+* **Protocol Versioning:** Maintainers agreed on using a special version string,
+  `DRAFT-2026-V1` (represented as uppercase draft, dash, 2026, dash, lowercase
+  V1), to denote the new protocol version during testing.
+
+## **E-Tag Correctness Mechanism & Standard IO Challenges**
+
+* **Correctness vs Caching:** Geoff Goodman proposed an E-tag mechanism (or
+  fencing token) where a tools list provides identifiers, and the client
+  supplies that identifier on tool calls. This allows the server to verify if
+  the LLM is using valid tool definitions.  
+* **Tension Point \- Opaque Strings and State:** Andreas Schlapbach and Stephen
+  Halter raised concerns that returning opaque strings could act as a backdoor
+  to stateful behavior. However, Geoff Goodman and Stephen Halter favored
+  server-defined opaque strings for simplicity.  
+* **Tension Point \- Standard IO Limitations:** Standard IO lacks a native
+  headers mechanism to convey E-tags, leading to a discussion on putting
+  metadata in `_meta`. This prompted core maintainers to suggest investigating
+  "HTTP over standard IO" to unify standard IO and HTTP features.
+
+## **Future Protocol Feature Agendas**
+
+* **Streaming & Binary Handling:** Peter Alexander proposed streaming results
+  and raw binary handling for large payloads as priorities for future releases,
+  intersecting with the file upload working group.  
+* **Compression & Encryption:** Andreas Schlapbach proposed supporting message
+  compression (e.g., GZip, Brotli) and message signing/encryption to guarantee
+  message integrity in regulated environments.  
+* **Tension Point \- Encryption Utility vs Observability:** Geoff Goodman and
+  Stephen Halter questioned the utility of encryption over TLS, arguing it adds
+  payload opacity and a loss of observability. Kurtis Van Gent emphasized that
+  without active client demand, encryption should not be a priority.
+
+# **Next Steps & Timeline**
+
+Core maintainers and SDK developers will finalize conformance tests for the
+stateless protocol by the May 15th deadline. Geoff Goodman will draft an SEP
+outlining the E-tags mechanism focusing on optimistic concurrency control.
+Andreas Schlapbach will contact Saxo Bank to determine if highly regulated
+financial institutions have verified use cases for payload encryption.
+
+# **Action Items**
+
+- [ ] **Andreas Schlapbach** Post comments regarding the stateless SEP document,
+  focusing on the initialization requirements.  
+- [ ] **Stephen Halter** Implement the protocol version string `DRAFT-2026-V1`
+  in the SDK and ensure conformance tests recognize it.  
+- [ ] **Geoff Goodman** Draft a new SEP outlining the E-tags mechanism for
+  optimistic concurrency control.  
+- [ ] **Andreas Schlapbach** Talk to Saxo Bank contacts regarding encryption and
+  compression messaging needs and return with example user journeys.
+
+Source: [Meeting Notes — April 29,
+2026](https://docs.google.com/document/d/17snXKCMmMRtpWhRk6itCNIQ6ovTU1LmxGwumGm8FzNY/edit?usp=meet_tnfm_email)