Inspector V2 Working Group Charter

Group Type

Working Group

Mission Statement

The Inspector V2 Working Group is building Inspector V2, a new web-based MCP inspector redesigned from the ground up for maintainability and reliability. The group delivers a shared Inspector Core architecture that maximizes code reuse across Web, CLI, and TUI implementations, together with a comprehensive testing apparatus. This effort requires cross-maintainer collaboration because it spans UI, protocol tooling, and test infrastructure that no single maintainer owns today.

Scope

In Scope

The modelcontextprotocol/inspector repository, including:
Inspector Core — a new shared-code architecture that provides common MCP and protocol interfaces for all Inspector front-ends.
Web Inspector UI — browser-based inspector built on Mantine and TypeScript.
CLI Inspector — command-line interface sharing Inspector Core.
TUI Inspector — terminal UI sharing Inspector Core.
Testing apparatus — shared test harnesses, fixtures, and integration tests across all Inspector surfaces.
Deprecation and migration of the existing Inspector on main to a v1.x maintenance branch.
Adoption of MCP TypeScript SDK V2 inside Inspector Core once available.

Out of Scope

The core MCP specification.
MCP SDK maintenance (TypeScript, Python, or any other language SDK).
MCP server implementations.

SDK WG — Inspector Core consumes the TypeScript SDK; coordination required for SDK V2 adoption.
MCP Apps WG — shared surface area around client/app ergonomics and inspection workflows.
Auth WG — authentication flows exercised by Inspector when connecting to protected servers.
Registry WG — discovery and metadata surfaces that Inspector presents to users.

Leadership

Role	Name	Organization	GitHub	Term
WG Lead	Cliff Hall	Futurescale	@cliffhall	Ongoing
WG Lead	Ola Hungerford	Nordstrom	@olaservo	Ongoing
WG Lead	Bob Dickinson	TeamSpark.ai	@BobDickinson	Ongoing

Authority & Decision Rights

Decision Type	Authority Level
Meeting logistics & scheduling	WG Leads (autonomous)
Proposal prioritization within WG	WG Leads (autonomous)
SEP triage & closure (in scope)	WG Leads (autonomous, with documented rationale)
Technical design within scope	WG consensus
Spec changes (additive)	WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval
Spec changes (breaking/fundamental)	WG consensus → Core Maintainer approval + wider review
Scope expansion	Core Maintainer approval required
WG Member approval	WG Member sponsors

Membership

Name	Organization	GitHub	Discord	Level
Cliff Hall	Futurescale	@cliffhall	seaofarrows	Maintainer
Ola Hungerford	Nordstrom	@olaservo	olaservo	Maintainer
Bob Dickinson	TeamSpark.ai	@BobDickinson	rddthree	Maintainer
Tobin South	Anthropic	@tobinsouth	tobinsouth	Member

Operations

Meeting	Frequency	Duration	Purpose
Working Session	Weekly, Wednesdays 11:00 America/New_York	60 minutes	Technical discussion, proposal review

Meetings are held at meet.modelcontextprotocol.io/tag/inspector-v2-wg. Agendas are posted at least 7 days in advance per current MCP meeting policy. Meeting notes are published to the Meeting Notes — Inspector V2 WG discussion category in the modelcontextprotocol/modelcontextprotocol repository.

Communication channels

Primary channel: #inspector-v2-wg on the MCP Discord.
Async discussion: GitHub Discussions in modelcontextprotocol/inspector.
Quarterly updates: posted to the WG's GitHub Discussions category.

Deliverables & Success Metrics

Active Work Items

Work Item	Status	Owner(s)
Web Inspector UI (Mantine / TypeScript) — dumb components with real MCP/Core interfaces	In Progress	Cliff Hall, Ola Hungerford
Inspector Core shared-code architecture	In Progress	Bob Dickinson
CLI Inspector and TUI Inspector	In Progress	Bob Dickinson
Migration of existing Inspector on `main` to `v1.x` maintenance branch	Planning	WG Leads
Testing apparatus across Core, Web, CLI, and TUI	Planning	WG Leads
Inspector Core adoption of MCP TypeScript SDK V2	Blocked (gated by TS SDK WG)	Bob Dickinson

Success Criteria

End of Q1 — Web UI complete with "dumb" components wired to real MCP/Inspector Core interfaces.
End of Q1 — Inspector Core architecture finalized.
End of Q2 — Inspector Core merged to v2/main and working end-to-end with the Web UI.
End of Q2 — CLI and TUI Inspectors merged to v2/main and working end-to-end with Inspector Core.
End of Q2 — Existing Inspector on main moved to the v1.x branch and officially deprecated.
End of Q2 — New Inspector family (Web, CLI, TUI) published and generally available.
End of Q3 — Inspector Core running on MCP TypeScript SDK V2 (gated by the TypeScript SDK WG's delivery schedule).

Changelog

Date	Change	Author
2026-04-11	Initial charter adopted for SEP-2149 compliance.	Cliff Hall (Co-Lead)