Model Context Protocol SDK for PHP

This package provides a PHP SDK for the Model Context Protocol. The primary goal of this project is to provide both an MCP server and an MCP client using pure PHP, making it easy to use in PHP/Apache/cPanel hosting environments with typical server configurations.

Overview

This PHP SDK implements the full MCP specification, making it easy to:

• Build MCP clients that can connect to any MCP server
• Create MCP servers that expose resources, prompts and tools
• Use standard transports like stdio and HTTP
• Interoperate with peers on any spec revision from `2024-11-05` through `2026-07-28` — version negotiation is built in

This SDK offers two major advantages for the MCP and PHP developer communities:

• This SDK features a 100% pass rate on the applicable required MCP Conformance Tests — the stable-track baseline is empty — and additionally runs the draft-track suite validating the `2026-07-28` spec update. See Conformance Testing.

• The SDK can demonstrate both a functional MCP client and MCP server with a single Composer command. See the Webclient Example.

New in v2

v2 is built around two headline features — day-one support for the MCP

`2026-07-28` "stateless core" spec revision, and full support for the MCP

Apps extension — delivered without giving up compatibility with any

earlier revision:

• `2026-07-28` stateless core — no `initialize` handshake, no session

ids: every request is self-contained, which is exactly the model that

fits typical PHP web hosting (a fresh process per request). Includes

`server/discover`, caching hints, request-metadata headers,

`subscriptions/listen` streams, and multi-round-trip input gathering.

• Dual-era negotiation — servers detect each request's era and clients

probe-then-fall-back automatically, so one codebase serves both modern

(`2026-07-28`) and legacy (`2024-11-05` … `2025-11-25`) peers

concurrently.

• Tasks extension (SEP-2663) — long-running tool calls return a task

handle that clients poll, cancel, and feed input to; backed by a

file-based store that works on shared hosting. See the

Tasks guide.

• MCP Apps extension (SEP-1865) — attach a host-rendered HTML UI to a

tool with one `->ui(...)` call. See the Apps guide.

The complete inventory — including OAuth 2.1 hardening, typed errors, and

the feature-lifecycle deprecation registry — is in the

CHANGELOG; API differences from v1 are covered in the

Migration Guide.

Installation

You can install the v2 SDK via composer:

composer require logiscape/mcp-sdk-php

Requirements

• PHP 8.1 or higher
• ext-curl
• ext-json
• ext-pcntl (optional, recommended for CLI environments)
• monolog/monolog (optional, used by example clients/servers for logging)

Basic Usage

Creating an MCP Server

For detailed documentation and examples of MCP servers, see the Server Development Guide.

Here's a complete example of an MCP server that provides a simple tool:

tool('add-numbers', 'Adds two numbers together', function (float $a, float $b): string {
        return 'Sum: ' . ($a + $b);
    })

    // Start the server
    ->run();

Save this as `example_server.php`

Creating an MCP Client

For detailed documentation and examples of MCP clients, see the Client Development Guide.

Here's how to create a client that connects to the example server and calls the addition tool:

connect('php', ['example_server.php']);

    // Call the add-numbers tool with two arguments
    $result = $session->callTool('add-numbers', ['a' => 5, 'b' => 25]);

    // Output the result
    echo $result->content[0]->text . "\n";

} catch (\Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
    exit(1);
} finally {
    $client->close();
}

Save this as `example_client.php` and run it:

php example_client.php

Examples

The `examples/` directory contains a runnable example

for every major SDK feature — stateless servers, dual-era client

negotiation, Tasks, Apps, elicitation, HTTP clients, and OAuth — each

designed to run from the directory where you installed the SDK. Its README

doubles as a feature map of the SDK.

Some examples use monolog for logging, which can be installed via composer:

composer require monolog/monolog

MCP Web Client

The "webclient" directory includes a web-based application for testing MCP servers. It was designed to demonstrate an MCP client capable of running in a typical web hosting environment.

Setting Up The Web Client

To setup the web client, upload the contents of "webclient" to a web directory, such as public_html on a cPanel server. Ensure that the MCP SDK for PHP is installed in that same directory by running the Composer command found in the Installation section of this README.

Using The Web Client

Once the web client has been uploaded to a web directory, navigate to index.php to open the interface. To connect to the included MCP test server, enter `php` in the Command field and `test_server.php` in the Arguments field and click `Connect to Server`. The interface allows you to test Prompts, Tools, and Resources. There is also a Debug Panel allowing you to view the JSON-RPC messages being sent between the Client and Server.

Web Client Notes And Limitations

This MCP Web Client is intended for developers to test MCP servers, and it is not recommended to be made publicly accessible as a web interface without additional testing for security, error handling, and resource management.

OAuth Authorization

The HTTP server transport includes optional OAuth 2.1 support. For more details see the OAuth Authentication Example.

Documentation

For detailed information about the Model Context Protocol itself, visit the official documentation.

Project-specific documentation lives in this repository (see the

documentation index for the full annotated list):

Project governance and process:

Project Status

This SDK supports the latest MCP specification revision (`2026-07-28`, the

"stateless core") from day one, alongside every earlier revision back to

`2024-11-05` — version negotiation and per-request era detection let one

server or client interoperate across all of them.

Conformance runs on two tracks in CI: the stable track passes 100% of the

applicable required tests with an empty baseline

(`conformance/conformance-baseline.yml`),

and the draft track validates the `2026-07-28` spec update against

the upstream RC-validation suite, with remaining entries in

`conformance/conformance-draft-baseline.yml`.

See conformance/README.md for the dual-track rules.

See MCP SDK Tier Audit for an assessment against the SDK tier criteria and GOVERNANCE.md for how the project is maintained.

Release history is captured in CHANGELOG.md; what is shipping next is tracked under its `[Unreleased]` heading. See ROADMAP.md for the future goals and outlook of the project.

Credits

This PHP SDK was developed by:

• Josh Abbott
• Claude 3.5 Sonnet
• Claude Opus 4.5
• Claude Fable 5

Code reviews and refactoring done by Josh Abbott originally using OpenAI ChatGPT o1 pro mode, and later by OpenAI Codex using GPT-5.5 and GPT-5.6 Sol.

Special acknowledgement to Roman Pronskiy for simplifying the server building process with his convenience wrapper project: https://github.com/pronskiy/mcp

• `Mcp\Server\McpServer` — adapted from `Pronskiy\Mcp\Server`
• `Mcp\Server\McpServerException` — adapted from `Pronskiy\Mcp\McpServerException`

License

The MIT License (MIT). Please see License File for more information.