A developer preparing a contribution to the MCP project asks which license applies to code and specification contributions, and which applies to the project's documentation. What do the governance rules state?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Think of two rulebooks you have to follow: one for the engine, one for the owner's manual. For MCP the engine runs on Apache 2.0 and the manual on CC BY 4.0, so watch for answers that swap in MIT or a public-domain license.
Full Explanation
MCP is established as a Series of LF Projects, LLC, and its governance document sets the project licenses. Except as otherwise described, all code and specification contributions must be made under the Apache License, Version 2.0, which is called the Project License, and all outbound code and specifications are made available under it. Core Maintainers may approve an alternative open license on an exception basis, but that is not the default. All documentation, excluding the specifications themselves, is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license. Contributors keep copyright in their contributions as independent works and are not required to assign it to the project. The MIT License is a common choice for other open source projects but is not MCP's Project License. Creative Commons Zero would waive attribution, whereas the project uses CC BY 4.0, which requires it. The GNU GPL is a copyleft license that the project does not use for code or documentation. Exam caveat: the specification text counts as specification, not documentation, so it falls under Apache 2.0. Operational check: before contributing, confirm the LICENSE file of the target repository and whether the change touches the specification or general documentation.