Inspector V2 Working Group Charter

community/working-groups/inspector-v2 First recorded · 110 lines, first recorded

# Inspector V2 Working Group Charter ## Group Type ## Mission Statement ## Scope ### In Scope ### Out of Scope ### Related Groups ## Leadership ## Authority & Decision Rights ## Membership ## Operations ## Deliverables & Success Metrics ### Active Work Items ### Success Criteria ## Changelog

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# Inspector V2 Working Group Charter

> Charter for the Inspector V2 Working Group, a Working Group of the Model Context Protocol community.

## Group Type

Working Group

## Mission Statement

The Inspector V2 Working Group is building Inspector V2, a new web-based MCP inspector redesigned from the ground up for maintainability and reliability. The group delivers a shared Inspector Core architecture that maximizes code reuse across Web, CLI, and TUI implementations, together with a comprehensive testing apparatus. This effort requires cross-maintainer collaboration because it spans UI, protocol tooling, and test infrastructure that no single maintainer owns today.

## Scope

### In Scope

* The `modelcontextprotocol/inspector` repository, including:
* **Inspector Core** — a new shared-code architecture that provides common MCP and protocol interfaces for all Inspector front-ends.
* **Web Inspector UI** — browser-based inspector built on Mantine and TypeScript.
* **CLI Inspector** — command-line interface sharing Inspector Core.
* **TUI Inspector** — terminal UI sharing Inspector Core.
* **Testing apparatus** — shared test harnesses, fixtures, and integration tests across all Inspector surfaces.
* Deprecation and migration of the existing Inspector on `main` to a `v1.x` maintenance branch.
* Adoption of MCP TypeScript SDK V2 inside Inspector Core once available.

### Out of Scope

* The core MCP specification.
* MCP SDK maintenance (TypeScript, Python, or any other language SDK).
* MCP server implementations.

### Related Groups

* **SDK WG** — Inspector Core consumes the TypeScript SDK; coordination required for SDK V2 adoption.
* **MCP Apps WG** — shared surface area around client/app ergonomics and inspection workflows.
* **Auth WG** — authentication flows exercised by Inspector when connecting to protected servers.
* **Registry WG** — discovery and metadata surfaces that Inspector presents to users.

## Leadership

| Role    | Name           | Organization | GitHub                                           | Term    |
| ------- | -------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | ------- |
| WG Lead | Cliff Hall     | Futurescale  | [@cliffhall](https://github.com/cliffhall)       | Ongoing |
| WG Lead | Ola Hungerford | Nordstrom    | [@olaservo](https://github.com/olaservo)         | Ongoing |
| WG Lead | Bob Dickinson  | TeamSpark.ai | [@BobDickinson](https://github.com/BobDickinson) | Ongoing |

## Authority & Decision Rights

| Decision Type                       | Authority Level                                        |
| ----------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ |
| Meeting logistics & scheduling      | WG Leads (autonomous)                                  |
| Proposal prioritization within WG   | WG Leads (autonomous)                                  |
| SEP triage & closure (in scope)     | WG Leads (autonomous, with documented rationale)       |
| Technical design within scope       | WG consensus                                           |
| Spec changes (additive)             | WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval                |
| Spec changes (breaking/fundamental) | WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval + wider review |
| Scope expansion                     | Core Maintainer approval required                      |
| WG Member approval                  | WG Member sponsors                                     |

## Membership

| Name           | Organization | GitHub                                           | Discord     | Level      |
| -------------- | ------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | ----------- | ---------- |
| Cliff Hall     | Futurescale  | [@cliffhall](https://github.com/cliffhall)       | seaofarrows | Maintainer |
| Ola Hungerford | Nordstrom    | [@olaservo](https://github.com/olaservo)         | olaservo    | Maintainer |
| Bob Dickinson  | TeamSpark.ai | [@BobDickinson](https://github.com/BobDickinson) | rddthree    | Maintainer |
| Tobin South    | Anthropic    | [@tobinsouth](https://github.com/tobinsouth)     | tobinsouth  | Member     |

## Operations

| Meeting         | Frequency                                  | Duration   | Purpose                               |
| --------------- | ------------------------------------------ | ---------- | ------------------------------------- |
| Working Session | Weekly, Wednesdays 11:00 America/New\_York | 60 minutes | Technical discussion, proposal review |

Meetings are held at [meet.modelcontextprotocol.io/tag/inspector-v2-wg](https://meet.modelcontextprotocol.io/tag/inspector-v2-wg). Agendas are posted at least 7 days in advance per current MCP meeting policy. Meeting notes are published to the [Meeting Notes — Inspector V2 WG](https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol/discussions/categories/meeting-notes-inspector-v2-wg) discussion category in the `modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol` repository.

**Communication channels**

* Primary channel: `#inspector-v2-wg` on the MCP Discord.
* Async discussion: GitHub Discussions in `modelcontextprotocol/inspector`.
* Quarterly updates: posted to the WG's GitHub Discussions category.

## Deliverables & Success Metrics

### Active Work Items

| Work Item                                                                               | Status                       | Owner(s)                   |
| --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------- | -------------------------- |
| Web Inspector UI (Mantine / TypeScript) — dumb components with real MCP/Core interfaces | In Progress                  | Cliff Hall, Ola Hungerford |
| Inspector Core shared-code architecture                                                 | In Progress                  | Bob Dickinson              |
| CLI Inspector and TUI Inspector                                                         | In Progress                  | Bob Dickinson              |
| Migration of existing Inspector on `main` to `v1.x` maintenance branch                  | Planning                     | WG Leads                   |
| Testing apparatus across Core, Web, CLI, and TUI                                        | Planning                     | WG Leads                   |
| Inspector Core adoption of MCP TypeScript SDK V2                                        | Blocked (gated by TS SDK WG) | Bob Dickinson              |

### Success Criteria

1. **End of Q1** — Web UI complete with "dumb" components wired to real MCP/Inspector Core interfaces.
2. **End of Q1** — Inspector Core architecture finalized.
3. **End of Q2** — Inspector Core merged to `v2/main` and working end-to-end with the Web UI.
4. **End of Q2** — CLI and TUI Inspectors merged to `v2/main` and working end-to-end with Inspector Core.
5. **End of Q2** — Existing Inspector on `main` moved to the `v1.x` branch and officially deprecated.
6. **End of Q2** — New Inspector family (Web, CLI, TUI) published and generally available.
7. **End of Q3** — Inspector Core running on MCP TypeScript SDK V2 (gated by the TypeScript SDK WG's delivery schedule).

## Changelog

| Date       | Change                                           | Author               |
| ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ | -------------------- |
| 2026-04-11 | Initial charter adopted for SEP-2149 compliance. | Cliff Hall (Co-Lead) |