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The MCP Tasks Extension - Vikram Vaswani

Long-running work - batch jobs, multi-step agent tasks, anything that takes minutes instead of milliseconds - doesn't fit a synchronous request/response model. This document explains the MCP Tasks extension, which standardizes how the Model Context Protocol handles long-running work that doesn't fit a single request/response cycle. In the MCP protocol update of 2026-07-28, Tasks was redesigned as a dedicated extension, trading the previous complexity for a smaller, more secure primitive at the cost of being backwards-incompatible. A live demo can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSoXxTqHJv0

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Agentic AI Foundation aaif.io / events The MCP Tasks Extension ↳ SPEC WALKTHROUGH + LIVE DEMO Vikram Vaswani
Agentic AI Foundation 01 · SPEAKER PROFILE aaif.io / events About Me ● Independent since 2003: technical content, developer relations and open source consulting ● Focus: Content engineering and developer advocacy for bottom-up adoption ● Recent engagements: AI infrastructure, cloud- native platforms, DevOps automation ● Speaker, AI_Dev Europe, FOSSASIA, PyCon, MCP Dev Summit ● Ambassador, Agentic AI Foundation (Linux Foundation) ● Oxford MBA (Distinction) · Felix Scholar 25+ YEARS BUILDING DEV CONTENT 7 BOOKS, 8 LANGUAGES 550+ TUTORIALS PUBLISHED 34K+ VIEWS ON RECENT WORK
Agentic AI Foundation 02 · THE PROBLEM aaif.io / events Why Tasks Exist ● Most calls are fast. The overwhelming majority of MCP tool calls finish in well under a second. ● Some aren't. Batch exports, model training, multi-step agent work don't fit a synchronous request/response cycle. ● The old model gave you nothing. No progress reporting, no cancellation, no way for the server to ask a follow-up mid-call. ● Everyone rolled their own. Every server invented its own bespoke “start_job / poll_status” pattern.
Agentic AI Foundation 03 · SPEC 2025-11-25 aaif.io / events Tasks in 2025-11-25 (Experimental) ● Introduced directly in the MCP specification itself, explicitly marked experimental. ● Either party can be the “requestor” or “receiver”; client or server can create or execute a task. ● Wraps tool calls, and also server-initiated sampling and elicitation requests. ● Four RPC methods: tasks/get, tasks/result, tasks/cancel, and tasks/list.
Agentic AI Foundation 04 · LIFECYCLE (2025-11-25) aaif.io / events The 2025-11-25 Task Lifecycle 1. Client requests task via task param 2. Server returns task handle immediately 3. Client polls tasks/get for status 4. Input needed > blocking tasks/result call 5. Final result also comes from tasks/result
Agentic AI Foundation 06 · SPEC 2026-07-28 aaif.io / events Tasks in 2026-07-28 (New Extension) ● Relocated to io.modelcontextprotocol/tasks, a dedicated protocol extension. ● Replaces the old layered negotiation with a single extension-level opt-in. ● Task creation is server-directed. The client just signals it can handle one; the server decides per request. ● Not backwards-compatible. A clean break from the 2025-11-25 experimental feature; servers supporting both must dispatch on version.
Agentic AI Foundation 07 · LIFECYCLE (2026-07-28) aaif.io / events The 2026-07-28 Task Lifecycle 1. Server decides to create task, unsolicited 2. Client polls tasks/get, no blocking 3. Input needed > inline inputRequests in response 4. Client answers via new tasks/update call 5. Result inlined directly in tasks/get
Agentic AI Foundation 08 · METHODS aaif.io / events Methods ● tasks/get: Inlines the final result directly once status is completed or failed. ● tasks/update: Submits inputResponses to outstanding inputRequests surfaced by a prior tasks/get. ● tasks/cancel: Cancellation is cooperative; it signals intent, doesn't guarantee the work stops. ● tasks/result and tasks/list: Now deleted, with no replacement for listing a caller's tasks.
Agentic AI Foundation 09 · COMPARISON aaif.io / events Side-by-Side Comparison Dimension 2025-11-25 2026-07-28 Location in spec Core (experimental) Official extension Opt-in model Client declares support per request Server decides per request Result retrieval Separate, blocking tasks/result Inlined directly in tasks/get Mid-task input Blocking tasks/result side-channel inputRequests tasks/update → Task listing tasks/list (paginated) Removed entirely Cancellation Synchronous, returns task state Ack-only, eventually consistent
Agentic AI Foundation 10 · DEMO aaif.io / events Demo
Agentic AI Foundation 11 · TAKEAWAYS aaif.io / events Key Takeaways ● Smaller primitive. Fewer methods, stateless design, a strict read/write separation. ● More secure. No more tasks/list means no cross-caller task leakage. ● No backwards compatibility. Anyone who shipped against the 2025-11-25 experimental feature needs a genuine migration, not a patch. ● Continuous iteration. Extensions progress independently before promotion back into the core protocol.
Agentic AI Foundation 12 · CONTACT aaif.io / events Thank You! Get in touch with me ● Web: vikram-vaswani.in ● LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/vvaswani ● GitHub: github.com/vvaswani Open to new engagements - 2026