modelcontextprotocol / modelcontextprotocol/java-sdk
McpServerSession lifecycle doesn't support distributed services
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Description
This issue is closely related to #273 and could be considered as a follow up to that, but I decided to split it for convenience and readability.
Consider an MCP server written with this SDK and using the StreamableHttp transport. We deploy two replicas (A and B) of this server, with a load balancer in front.
- A new client application initiates a session by sending an
initializemessage, followed by anotifications/initializednotifications. - Let's say that the Load Balancer routed both messages to replica
A - As a result, replica
Agenerated a new session which Id is communicated back to the client - Replica
Anow has anMcpServerSessioninstance properly initialized with all the necessary client information
Problem:
- Next the client sends a
tools/listmessage with the obtain sessionId, but this time the load balancer routes the message to replicaB - Even though I believe it should be the server's responsibility to share the session id across replicas, the
McpServerSessioninstance that lives in replicaBhas never received (and will never receive) the initialize message and notifications - Although it's possible to distribute all that state and
simulatethat handshake in replicaB(I actually did it), I think this SDK should have an OOTB support for that, or at the very least, SessionFactory methods that make it easier to generate "ready to use" Sessions based on previous initializations.
Contributor guide
First steps
- Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
- Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
- Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
- Open a pull request that references the issue number.
Research direction
Start by reading this issue alongside related issue #273, then trace the StreamableHttp session lifecycle from initialize and notifications/initialized through tools/list. Inspect the session handling and SessionFactory entry points mentioned in the issue. Done means a session initialized on replica A can be used on replica B without manually simulating the handshake.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- java
- Domain
- backend, distributed-systems
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100