MCP Ping-Pong Server

The MCP Ping‑Pong Server is an experimental, educational tool that demonstrates how Model Context Protocol (MCP) calls can be exposed through a standard web API. Instead of writing custom adapters for each AI assistant, this server shows how to wrap MCP commands in a lightweight FastAPI backend and expose them over HTTP or Server‑Sent Events (SSE). The result is a single, reusable service that can be called from any client—whether it’s a web interface, command‑line tool, or another AI application.

At its core, the server implements three simple MCP commands—, , and . When a client sends a request, the server forwards the command to an MCP tool that handles the logic and returns the response. The and commands are classic examples of bidirectional communication, while demonstrates stateful interaction by returning the number of times it has been called during a session. The tool’s thread‑safe session management ensures that concurrent requests are handled correctly, making the server suitable for real‑world workloads.

Developers benefit from this server in several ways. First, it provides a ready‑made MCP integration pattern that can be copied or extended for more complex tools. Second, the dual transport options (REST endpoints and SSE) give flexibility: a RESTful approach for simple request/response flows, or an event‑driven SSE channel for streaming results and continuous updates. Third, the built‑in UI lets teams prototype quickly without writing any client code; this is especially useful for demonstrations or onboarding new users to MCP.

Typical use cases include building conversational agents that need quick, deterministic responses (e.g., health checks or simple toggles), creating test harnesses for MCP‑enabled assistants, or learning how to structure an MCP service before moving on to production‑grade tooling. Because the server is built on FastAPI, it integrates seamlessly with existing Python microservices stacks and can be deployed behind any HTTP gateway or container orchestrator.

In summary, the MCP Ping‑Pong Server is a concise yet powerful showcase of how to expose MCP commands through modern web protocols, offering developers an immediate template for building robust, scalable AI‑assistant integrations.