claudekit / updates / bringing-mcp-2026-07-28-to-claude
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Bringing MCP 2026-07-28 to Claude — a stateless core, standardized extensions, and hardened auth

MCP 2026-07-28, the fifth spec release of the Model Context Protocol, is live. It moves MCP from a bidirectional stateful protocol to a stateless request/response core so servers can deploy on serverless and edge infrastructure, graduates MCP Apps and Tasks into a versioned extensions framework, and aligns authorization with production OAuth 2.0 and OIDC deployments. Support is rolling out across Claude products.

MCPClaude Platform
Official announcement →

This article is a summary based on official documentation.

Overview

MCP 2026-07-28, the fifth spec release of the Model Context Protocol, is live. The latest spec moves MCP to a stateless core, while hardening authorization and graduating official extensions. Support is being rolled out across Claude products.

Key features

  • Stateless core

    MCP was previously a bidirectional stateful protocol, which tied servers to long-lived connections. The spec now moves to a request/response model, so servers can deploy on serverless and edge infrastructure. This simplifies building MCP servers for Claude and scales usage as adoption grows.

  • Standardized extensions

    MCP Apps and Tasks now ship under a versioned extensions framework. Developers get a formal path to add capabilities like interactive UIs and long-running work without changing the core protocol.

  • Auth hardening

    Connecting MCP servers to enterprise identity systems used to require workarounds. Authorization now aligns with production OAuth 2.0 and OIDC deployments, enabling MCP servers to connect to systems like Entra or Okta directly.

  • MCP in Claude

    Claude now lists over 950 MCP servers in the connectors directory, used by millions daily. Features shipped this year include MCP Apps, which let servers render interactive UI directly in conversations; enterprise-managed auth, which lets admins provision MCP connectors organization-wide through existing IdP groups with zero-touch setup for end users; observability for developers, a dashboard for published connectors showing performance metrics, adoption tracking, error diagnosis, and usage breakdown by product surface; and MCP tunnels (research preview), which connect Claude to MCP servers inside private networks without public internet exposure.

Notes

  • Rollout — the spec went live on July 28, 2026, and support is rolling out across Claude products soon.
  • MCP tunnels is a research preview — it requires no inbound firewall rules, public endpoints, or IP allowlisting, but remains in preview.
  • Ecosystem scale — MCP recently surpassed 400M monthly SDK downloads, a 4x increase this year.
  • Getting started — explore the specification and SDKs to get started. Developers planning to submit MCP servers to Claude’s connectors directory can learn more through the official documentation.
§ 4

Frequently Asked Questions

frequently asked
§ 4.1
What is MCP 2026-07-28?
It is the fifth spec release of the Model Context Protocol. It moves MCP to a stateless core, hardens authorization, and graduates official extensions into a versioned framework.
§ 4.2
What does the stateless core change?
MCP moves from a bidirectional stateful protocol to a request/response model. Servers can now deploy on serverless and edge infrastructure, which simplifies building MCP servers for Claude and scales usage as adoption grows.
§ 4.3
What happened to MCP Apps and Tasks?
Both now ship under a versioned extensions framework, giving developers a formal path to add capabilities like interactive UIs and long-running work without changing the core protocol.
§ 4.4
How was authorization hardened?
Authorization now aligns with production OAuth 2.0 and OIDC deployments, enabling MCP servers to connect to enterprise identity systems like Entra or Okta without workarounds.
§ 4.5
When is it available in Claude?
The spec went live on July 28, 2026, and support is rolling out across Claude products soon. Claude currently lists over 950 MCP servers in the connectors directory.
§ 4.6
Where can I find the official announcement?
See the Claude blog post 'Bringing MCP 2026-07-28 to Claude' at claude.com/blog/bringing-mcp-2026-07-28-to-claude, along with the Model Context Protocol specification and SDKs.