A vendor demo can make an MCP server look great.
The tools work, the assistant gets useful answers, and everything feels effortless.
But what happens when a token expires, a user cancels a long-running request, or your company needs evidence that the server is actually secure?
That's the part worth investigating before signing a contract. 🙂
I published a practical guide to evaluating MCP server vendors, based on the 2026-07-28 Model Context Protocol specification.
What's in the checklist?
1. Protocol compliance
Does the server implement discovery correctly? Can any instance handle a request without relying on connection-specific session state? Are caching and transport requirements respected?
2. Security
How are tokens validated? Does the server check the intended audience? Are inputs validated, tool calls rate-limited, and outputs sanitized?
3. Production operations
What happens when a client disconnects or cancels a request? Can the vendor show useful metrics, tracing, and operational logs?
4. Evidence, not promises
Does the vendor run the official conformance suite? Does it test against both older and newer protocol implementations? Has it been tested across multiple AI hosts, including a text-only client?
The useful part: 12 questions you can actually send
The article ends with a one-page checklist designed for buyers, CTOs, security reviewers, and engineering teams.
It distinguishes requirements stated by the specification from my own recommendations, so you're not accidentally turning a good practice into a supposed protocol MUST.
The goal isn't to make procurement harder. It's to make the important questions easier to ask before a production incident asks them for you. 😅
👉 Read the full article: https://pournasserian.com/writing/mcp-buyer-vendor-requirements
This is part one of a series on MCP for buyers and CTOs. I'd love to hear what you'd add to the checklist, especially if you've already evaluated MCP vendors for production use.
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