---
id: mcp-types
version: "2.0.0"
license: MIT
license_treatment: permissive
maintenance: active
---

# mcp-types — Model Context Protocol wire types

License: permissive · Maintenance: active · Downloads: 11.7M/mo

## What it is and what it does

mcp-types holds the wire types, protocol message models, JSON-RPC envelope types, and protocol-version registry for the Model Context Protocol. It lets you work with MCP traffic—serializing and deserializing protocol messages—without pulling in the full SDK. The package depends only on pydantic and typing-extensions, making it suitable for inclusion in environments where you want minimal overhead.

The package is actively maintained and supports Python 3.10 through 3.14. It re-exports its types through the main mcp package, so existing code using `from mcp import Tool` continues to work. If you need to handle MCP messages in isolation—for example, in a service that processes protocol traffic but doesn't need higher-level abstractions—this package provides exactly that surface.

Use it for:

- Deserialize incoming MCP protocol messages in a standalone service without the full SDK.
- Build custom MCP clients or servers that need to validate and serialize protocol-compliant messages.
- Integrate MCP message handling into an existing application that already has pydantic as a dependency.

## Worth the install?

AI-flagged interpretation of the facts above — verify before relying.

Provides the wire types and protocol message models for the Model Context Protocol, enabling serialization and deserialization of MCP traffic with minimal dependencies.

Yes. This is a production-stable, actively maintained package with minimal dependencies and no known vulnerabilities. Install it if you need to work with Model Context Protocol messages in isolation or want to avoid the overhead of the full SDK. The low install friction and permissive license make it a straightforward addition to any project that touches MCP.

## Install

pip install mcp-types
uv add mcp-types
poetry add mcp-types

## Installing mcp-types

Before you install: Active maintenance with a recent release 17 days old. Low install friction: pure Python wheel with only pydantic and typing-extensions as runtime dependencies.

License in practice: MIT license is permissive; you can use this package freely in commercial and open-source projects without significant legal constraints.

Quickstart:

pip install mcp-types

from mcp_types import Tool, CallToolRequest
from mcp_types.version import LATEST_PROTOCOL_VERSION

Requires Python 3.10 or later.

Verify before relying:

- Performance characteristics when deserializing large or deeply nested MCP messages
- Whether the package is suitable for production use beyond the classifier

## Package facts

- License: MIT (permissive)
- Python support: supports_current
- Install friction: low
- Maintenance: active
- Downloads: 11.7M/month (top 5,000 on PyPI)
- Known vulnerabilities: none known

## Tags

mcp protocol types, model context protocol serialization, mcp message models, mcp json-rpc types, protocol wire types, protocol-types, mcp, llm-integration

[View on SkillFed](https://skillfed.io/packages/mcp-types) · [View on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/mcp-types/)