modelcontextprotocol / modelcontextprotocol/example-remote-server
Confusion with `WWW-Authenticate` and EXTERNAL server mode
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Descripción
Describe the bug
It seems there is some confusion in this example project regarding the EXTERNAL mode.
In this mode, there should be two distinct servers:
- one for authentication (OAuth2),
- one for the MCP server.
However, even in EXTERNAL mode, the example project still exposes the resource /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server on the MCP server.
This should not be the case. This resource is exposed by the OAuth2 authorization server, not by the MCP server, no ?
According to the MCP specification, the MCP server should instead expose: /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource
(see: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/authorization#protected-resource-metadata-discovery-requirements)
This resource is discovered by the client via the WWW-Authenticate header, which contains the URL of the MCP protected-resource metadata.
The JSON returned by this /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource endpoint must provide the base URL of the external authorization server.
Example response:
{
"resource": "http://localhost:3232/mcp",
"resource_name": "MCP Server",
"authorization_servers": [
"http://localhost:3001"
]
}
The client then uses this information to discover the authorization server metadata, as described in the spec:
https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/authorization#authorization-server-metadata-discovery
The spec allows several discovery patterns, such as:
-
OAuth 2.0 Authorization Server Metadata with path insertion:
https://auth.example.com/.well-known/oauth-authorization-server/tenant1 -
OpenID Connect Discovery 1.0 with path insertion:
https://auth.example.com/.well-known/openid-configuration/tenant1 -
OpenID Connect Discovery 1.0 with path appending:
https://auth.example.com/tenant1/.well-known/openid-configuration
This seems to be related to this topic on the inspector. Which seems to ignore the WWW-Authenticate header and make calls directly to the MCP server, expecting to deal with the authentication server.
To Reproduce
This issue can be observed by testing MCP clients + server that rely on this discovery mechanism.
For these clients, the current implementation does not work as expected.
Expected behavior
Add the /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource endpoint to the MCP server.
Remove the .well-known/oauth-authorization-server on the Mcp Server.Because it already displays this one by default.
Logs
If applicable, add logs to help explain your problem.
Additional context
Add any other context about the problem here.
Guía de contribución
Primeros pasos
- Lee el issue completo y luego la guía de contribución del proyecto.
- Comenta en el issue que vas a ocuparte — evita que dos personas hagan lo mismo.
- Haz un fork del repositorio y trabaja en una rama.
- Abre un pull request que haga referencia al número del issue.
Línea de trabajo
Comienza en la configuración de rutas well-known del MCP server e inspecciona cómo el modo EXTERNAL expone /.well-known/oauth-authorization-server. Compara el comportamiento con la MCP authorization specification enlazada y verifica el flujo de WWW-Authenticate. Se considera terminado cuando el MCP server expone /.well-known/oauth-protected-resource con la URL del authorization server externo y deja de exponer el endpoint de metadatos del authorization server.
Escrito por el modelo de indexación a partir del texto del issue.
Evaluación
- Stack tecnológico
- typescript
- Área
- api, authentication
- Tipo de issue
- Error
- Dificultad
- 3/5
- Tiempo estimado
- 1-2 días
- Estado de actividad
- Estancado
- Claridad
- Bien especificado
- Aptitud para principiantes
- 38/100