---
title: "8. Capabilities"
description: "MCP Description specification v0.7.0 — 8. Capabilities."
source: "https://mcpdesc.org/docs/specification/0.7.0/capabilities/"
---

Mirrored specification

This page mirrors **8\. Capabilities** of the MCP Description specification **v0.7.0**. The canonical source of truth is [cisco-open/mcptoolkit-contract](https://github.com/cisco-open/mcptoolkit-contract/blob/main/spec/sections/08-capabilities.md). Where this page differs from upstream, upstream wins.

## 8\. Capabilities

The `capabilities` object declares the server’s supported features as reported during MCP initialization. It is OPTIONAL.

### 8.1 Overview

Capabilities provide hints about the server’s feature set beyond the tools, resources, and prompts it exposes. These correspond to the capabilities returned in the MCP `InitializeResult`.

### 8.2 Properties

| Property              | Type    | Description                                                              |
| --------------------- | ------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| tools                 | object  | Tool-related capabilities                                                |
| tools.listChanged     | boolean | Whether the server sends notifications/tools/list\_changed               |
| resources             | object  | Resource-related capabilities                                            |
| resources.subscribe   | boolean | Whether the server supports resource subscriptions                       |
| resources.listChanged | boolean | Whether the server sends notifications/resources/list\_changed           |
| prompts               | object  | Prompt-related capabilities                                              |
| prompts.listChanged   | boolean | Whether the server sends notifications/prompts/list\_changed             |
| completions           | object  | Present if the server supports argument autocompletion (MCP 2025-03-26+) |
| logging               | object  | Present if the server supports sending log messages to the client        |
| tasks                 | object  | Present if the server supports task-augmented requests (MCP 2025-11-25+) |
| experimental          | object  | Experimental, non-standard capabilities                                  |

### 8.3 Tasks Capability

The `tasks` object, when present, indicates the server supports long-running task management:

| Property                  | Type   | Description                          |
| ------------------------- | ------ | ------------------------------------ |
| tasks.list                | object | Server supports listing active tasks |
| tasks.cancel              | object | Server supports cancelling tasks     |
| tasks.requests.tools.call | object | Tool calls can be task-augmented     |

### 8.4 Extensibility

The `capabilities` object allows additional properties beyond those defined here. Implementations SHOULD preserve unknown capability properties when processing documents.

### 8.5 Example

```json
{
  "capabilities": {
    "tools": { "listChanged": true },
    "resources": { "subscribe": true, "listChanged": true },
    "prompts": { "listChanged": false },
    "completions": {},
    "logging": {}
  }
}
```