Testing MCP Servers: The Five Gates Between Demo and Production

"MCP servers should be tested similarly to web and mobile applications." By the end of this article, you will know the five tests that turn an MCP demo into a production gate, and you will know exactly where each one belongs in the life of a real MCP server: before release, after deployment, and across the schema changes that inevitably come later. Your MCP server works in the demo. The tools show up in the client. A few manual calls succeed. Then you deploy it behind a real auth layer, invite r