The easiest MCP server to adopt can become the hardest one to leave.
The endpoint is not the whole system.
Six months in, the real dependency includes:
- tool schemas and versions
- identity and tenant mappings
- database roles and result limits
- semantic definitions
- redaction and approval policy
- client configuration
- audit evidence and test fixtures
So add a portability exercise to the MCP server comparison.
Pick one narrow, read-only workflow. Export its effective contract. Rebuild it in an empty target environment. Replay the same happy-path, denial, ambiguity, stale-schema, timeout, and cancellation cases.
Compare semantics and authority separately. Two implementations can return the same number while one uses broader permissions. They can also enforce the same permissions while calculating a business metric differently.
Then perform a canary cutover and a forced rollback.
Score every undocumented manual step, non-exportable policy, vendor-only identifier, and piece of audit history that cannot follow the workflow.
Protocol compatibility helps clients call tools.
Operational portability proves your team still owns the workflow.
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