Is it possible to get the version of the MCP server from the client?

[ajram23]

Looks like you can get the name but not the version. Also is it possible to store meta data and retrieve it. Looks like the MCP protocol supports server meta data. Perhaps I am missing something basic. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[richardkmichael]

Interesting question!

Can you please:

1. Post code to clarify what you mean exactly? What are you trying to achieve client-side?
2. Cite where the MCP specification mentions server metadata? I searched for this and only see "metadata" mentioned in the Inspector documentation. Of course, tools, resources, etc. have a description and other specific "metadata".

FastMCP does provide a version, but note it's the version of the underlying Python SDK mcp.

(Here I happen to be using >= 2.7.1 but older versions probably support instructions.)

server.py:

from fastmcp import FastMCP
server = FastMCP(name="Demo", instructions="Instructions to LLM for usage")
server.run()

$ npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector uv run server.py

initialize message response:

{
  "capabilities": {
    "experimental": {},
    "prompts": {
      "listChanged": false
    },
    "resources": {
      "subscribe": false,
      "listChanged": false
    },
    "tools": {
      "listChanged": true
    }
  },
  "serverInfo": {
    "name": "Demo",
    "version": "1.9.3"
  },
  "instructions": "Instructions to LLM for usage"
}

[ajram23]

I am trying to use it in the client to figure out what tools are available so I can update the UI. Using version as a route to figure out deltas. Would be nice to get other meta data if the implementation supports meta data.

[richardkmichael]

Deltas between lists of available tools? I'm not sure you could rely on the server version to decide to compute that. Available tools can be dynamic, and I don't think a server version would change when tools do.

I might poll with tools//list, or hope to be talking to a server which reliably sends Tool list change notifications (test for the capability). I haven't yet written a server or client which deals with notifications.

[ajram23]

Thank you, thats the work around I am using now. I was under the impression that MCP supported meta data at the server level and was available to be queried by the client. Am I mistaken?