Build a registry before adding connections
Every MCP server needs an owner, a declared purpose, an inventory of tools, a data classification and a list of approved clients. An internal registry separates reviewed servers from ad-hoc local installations and gives operations a place to deprecate old versions. Document each tool's input schema, external side effects and approval mode.
Before publication, review dependencies, secret handling and logging. State which tools are internal-only, which accept workload identities and which require an interactive user.
Move authorization to the identity plane
Enterprise permissions should not live in one chat client's settings. Use centralized identity, short-lived credentials, issuer validation and consent audit. Scope authority to a tool and a task, not to the model as a whole. Access to a server must not silently imply permission to call every method it exposes.
Non-human agents need dedicated identities, bounded delegation and a clear accountable owner. A shared bearer token used by several agents removes the evidence needed to investigate an action.
Plan the 2026 protocol transition
The 2026-07-28 specification changes the transport model, formalizes feature lifecycle and hardens authorization. Create a compatibility matrix for clients, servers and SDKs. Test capability discovery, retries, timeouts and error handling in a dual-version environment before changing production.
Migrate in waves: low-risk servers first, read-only tools next and state-changing operations last. Publish the supported versions and the retirement date for the old interface.
Observe the complete action
One trace should connect the user, AI application, MCP server, selected tool, policy decision and downstream result. Redact secrets from arguments while preserving enough metadata for investigation. Track latency, failures, denied calls, approvals and cancellations.
Finally test server isolation, credential revocation, rate limiting and a read-only fallback. MCP then remains a replaceable interface rather than becoming another uncontrolled access layer.