Dynamic MCP Servers

[scottslewis]

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Discussion Topic

By 'dynamic MCP server', what is meant here is that the server-managed persistent state (e.g. Tools, Resources, and Prompt meta-data) happens to be added, deleted, or updated while the server is running.

There are many single-user and multi-user use cases for long-running, dynamic MCP servers.

A single-user use case for this is a personalized individual autonomous agent, that may have access to a user's personal information, access controls, and possibly be able to generate content on behalf of the user (i.e. user context and relevant MCP state).

A multi-user use case for server dynamics is supporting r/w agentic access to team or group artifacts...such as codebases (for developers), contexts that change based upon team state (e.g. membership changes, process/workflows, access/security restrictions/changes, etc).

Agent <-> Human interaction (e.g. via messaging systems like signal) also can require mcp server dynamics for updating MCP primitive meta-data. An example would be messaging an LLM-agent requesting that the agent add (or remove, or update) a new Tool to the set of Tools accessible via the mcp server.

There are also mcp server dynamics involved for server side use cases of primitive grouping, previously presented and discussed here and here. Many of these use cases are associated with scaling MCP servers (e.g. gateways or registries), providing role and/or team based access control, and other MCP server-side concerns.

There are a number of technical, network, security, and policy issues associated with dynamic MCP servers. For example, keeping server managed state (tools, resources, prompts meta-data) consistent for one or multiple users when updated by a user or automated process, and doing this as efficiently as possible for MCP server scaling, with minimal runtime/protocol/communications expense.