On stdio the server MUST NOT write anything to stdout that is not a valid MCP message, and the client MUST NOT write anything to the server's stdin that is not a valid MCP message.

Checked 2026-09-30

Vendor
Model Context Protocol project
Product
MCP specification
Subsystem
stdio transport
Deployment
local-subprocess
Region
not restricted
Release range
MCP revisions 2024-11-05 through 2026-07-28
Checked
2026-09-30

Sources

Cite this note

APA

WarmTransfer. (2026, September 30). Model Context Protocol transports compared: source note mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity. WarmTransfer. https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/claims/mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity

BibTeX

@misc{warmtransfer-claim-mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity,
  title  = {Model Context Protocol transports compared: source note mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity},
  author = {{WarmTransfer}},
  year   = {2026},
  url    = {https://warmtransfer.net/knowledge/claims/mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity},
  note   = {Source note mcp-transport-differences-stdio-stream-purity, checked 2026-09-30}
}

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