19 popular MCP servers audited against new spec: 11 stale, one burns 12.7k tokens
nishchaymahor19 · reddit · 2026-11-11
The author ran 19 popular MCP servers through the new 2026-07-28 spec (server/discover replacing the old initialize handshake) using their free MIT-licensed mcpvitals tool in throwaway Docker containers.
- Spec adoption: 11 of 19 still only speak the old handshake. Python reference servers (fetch, git, time) are updated; none of the TypeScript ones (everything, memory, filesystem, sequential-thinking) are
- Context cost varies wildly: most servers cost 1k tokens to connect, but Desktop Commander takes 12.7k, Chrome DevTools 6.9k, Playwright 4.5k — spent on every request before you type anything; 9 of 19 have at least one tool over 500 tokens
- Client-builder gotcha: servers still downloading via npx get killed on first-request timeout and won't restart — give the first request extra breathing room
Token counts are rough estimates (chars÷4); low scores mean 'worth a look', not 'broken'.
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