Key Changes changedspecification/2025-11-25/changelog

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# Key Changes

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This document lists changes made to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) specification since
the previous revision, [2025-06-18](/specification/2025-06-18).

## Major changes

1. Enhance authorization server discovery with support for [OpenID Connect Discovery 1.0](https://openid.net/specs/openid-connect-discovery-1_0.html). (PR [#797](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/797))
2. Allow servers to expose icons as additional metadata for tools, resources, resource templates, and prompts ([SEP-973](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/973)).
3. Enhance authorization flows with incremental scope consent via `WWW-Authenticate` ([SEP-835](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/835))
4. Provide guidance on tool names ([SEP-986](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/1603))
5. Update `ElicitResult` and `EnumSchema` to use a more standards-based approach and support titled, untitled, single-select, and multi-select enums ([SEP-1330](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1330)).
6. Added support for [URL mode elicitation](/specification/2025-11-25/client/elicitation#url-elicitation-requests) ([SEP-1036](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/887))
7. Add tool calling support to sampling via `tools` and `toolChoice` parameters ([SEP-1577](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1577))
8. Add support for OAuth Client ID Metadata Documents as a recommended client registration mechanism ([SEP-991](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/991), PR [#1296](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/1296))
9. Add experimental support for [tasks](/specification/2025-11-25/basic/utilities/tasks) to enable tracking durable requests with polling and deferred result retrieval ([SEP-1686](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1686)).

## Minor changes

1. Clarify that servers using stdio transport may use stderr for all types of logging, not just error messages (PR [#670](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/670)).
2. Add optional `description` field to `Implementation` interface to align with MCP registry server.json format and provide human-readable context during initialization.
3. Clarify that servers must respond with HTTP 403 Forbidden for invalid Origin headers in Streamable HTTP transport. (PR [#1439](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/pull/1439))
4. Updated the [Security Best Practices guidance](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/draft/basic/security_best_practices).
5. Clarify that input validation errors should be returned as Tool Execution Errors rather than Protocol Errors to enable model self-correction ([SEP-1303](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1303)).
6. Support polling SSE streams by allowing servers to disconnect at will ([SEP-1699](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1699)).
7. Clarify SEP-1699: GET streams support polling, resumption always via GET regardless of stream origin, event IDs should encode stream identity, disconnection includes server-initiated closure (Issue [#1847](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1847)).
8. Align OAuth 2.0 Protected Resource Metadata discovery with RFC 9728, making `WWW-Authenticate` header optional with fallback to `.well-known` endpoint ([SEP-985](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/985)).
9. Add support for default values in all primitive types (string, number, enum) for elicitation schemas ([SEP-1034](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1034)).
10. Establish JSON Schema 2020-12 as the default dialect for MCP schema definitions ([SEP-1613](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1613)).

## Other schema changes

1. Decouple request payloads from RPC method definitions into standalone parameter schemas. ([SEP-1319](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/specification/issues/1319), PR [#1284](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/specification/pull/1284))

## Governance and process updates

1. Formalize Model Context Protocol governance structure ([SEP-932](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/932)).
2. Establish shared communication practices and guidelines for the MCP community ([SEP-994](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/994)).
3. Formalize Working Groups and Interest Groups in MCP governance ([SEP-1302](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1302)).
4. Establish SDK tiering system with clear requirements for feature support and maintenance commitments ([SEP-1730](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/issues/1730)).

## Full changelog

For a complete list of all changes that have been made since the last protocol revision,
[see GitHub](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/specification/compare/2025-06-18...2025-11-25).

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