modelcontextprotocol / modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk
Expose session, auth, and transport information on handler Context
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- Dominant language
- Python
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Description
Problem
Users consistently need access to transport-level information from inside tool, resource, and prompt handlers. Today, this data exists in the system but is not accessible through the Context object that handlers receive.
There are three categories of information users are asking for:
Session identity
Users need to identify which client session they are serving — for per-session state, logging, debugging, or multi-tenant scenarios. The session ID exists at the transport layer (e.g., Mcp-Session-Id header for streamable HTTP, UUID query param for SSE) but there is no way to read it from a handler.
- #485 — "How to get session_id in tool"
- #942 — "How to expose mcp_session_id to user?"
Auth credentials
Users completing an OAuth flow need to access the authenticated token or claims inside their handlers. The auth middleware already validates tokens and stores them in a ContextVar (auth_context_var), but Context does not expose this.
- #638 — "FastMCP Auth Context in tools"
Transport metadata (HTTP headers, client info)
Users need access to HTTP request headers, client IP, or other request-level metadata. The Starlette Request object is passed through as ServerMessageMetadata.request_context and lands on ServerRequestContext.request, but it is typed as Any and not surfaced on Context.
- #750 — "How to get HTTP request headers in tools"
- #375 — "Passing client context to tools"
Current state
The underlying data is available in the system — it just is not reachable from Context:
- Session ID: managed by
StreamableHTTPSessionManager/SseServerTransport, not exposed to handlers - Auth info: stored in
auth_context_varbyAuthContextMiddleware, not exposed to handlers - HTTP request: passed through as
request_context: AnyonServerMessageMetadata, available onServerRequestContext.requestbut not onContext
Scope
This issue is about designing and implementing access to these three categories of information on the handler Context. Key design considerations:
- Behavior varies by transport — stdio has no session ID, headers, or auth; stateless HTTP has no session ID; SSE has a different session ID mechanism than streamable HTTP
- The solution should work for both MCPServer (high-level) and low-level server handlers
- Should be consistent with the direction of #2021 (typed transport context) and #1684 (explicit context parameters)
Prior art
- PR #1608 — adds
ctx.session_idby threading throughInitializationOptions→ServerSession→RequestContext→Context
Related issues
- #2021 — Refactor handler context to be transport- and handler-type-aware (v2 architectural)
- #1684 — Refactor global contextvars into explicit parameters (v2 architectural)
- #2054 — Add dependency injection support to MCPServer (v2 architectural)
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 tracing Context, ServerRequestContext, and ServerMessageMetadata.request_context, then inspect StreamableHTTPSessionManager, SseServerTransport, and AuthContextMiddleware. Compare the approaches in #2021, #1684, and #1608. Done means handlers can access the applicable session, auth, and transport information consistently across supported transports, including the documented cases where data is unavailable.
Written by the indexing model from the issue text.
Assessment
- Tech stack
- python
- Domain
- api, authentication, backend
- Issue type
- Feature
- Difficulty
- 5/5
- Estimated time
- Over a week
- Activity status
- Quiet
- Clarity
- Mostly clear
- Newbie friendliness
- 35/100