An existing MCP server uses sampling so that the client's model can summarize documents for it. Its owners have just learned that revision 2026-07-28 deprecated sampling. What is the appropriate plan?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Deprecated means 'start packing,' not 'the building's on fire.' Sampling keeps working for at least a year, which gives you time to wire the server straight to an LLM provider's API. Swapping in roots won't help — it's deprecated too, and it never talked to a model.
Full Explanation
Revision 2026-07-28 deprecates sampling under SEP-2577. The notice says new implementations SHOULD NOT adopt it, existing implementations SHOULD migrate to integrating directly with LLM provider APIs, and the feature remains in the specification for at least twelve months, becoming eligible for removal in the first revision released on or after 2027-07-28. An existing server can keep working with clients that still declare the sampling capability while its owners plan the migration. Shutting down immediately is unnecessary, because deprecated features remain valid during the window and modern clients may still support them. Treating sampling as permanent ignores that deprecation schedules a feature for removal; actual removal is decided by Core Maintainers after the window elapses. Roots is also deprecated in the same revision and only ever told a server which directories the client cared about; it never provided access to a model. Exam caveat: in 2026-07-28 a server requests sampling by returning an InputRequiredResult and may do so only when the client declared the sampling capability on that request, which is why many modern clients may simply not offer it. Operational check: inventory every code path that requests sampling, confirm which client versions still declare it, and schedule the provider API integration well before the earliest removal date.