---
title: Background Tasks
sidebarTitle: Background Tasks
description: Execute operations asynchronously and track their progress
icon: clock
tag: "NEW"
---

import { VersionBadge } from "/snippets/version-badge.mdx"

<VersionBadge version="2.14.0" />

The [MCP task protocol](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25/basic/utilities/tasks) lets you request operations to run asynchronously. This returns a Task object immediately, letting you track progress, cancel operations, or await results.

See [Server Background Tasks](/servers/tasks) for how to enable this on the server side.

## Requesting Background Execution

Pass `task=True` to run an operation as a background task. The call returns immediately with a Task object while the work executes on the server.

```python
from fastmcp import Client

async with Client(server) as client:
    # Start a background task
    task = await client.call_tool("slow_computation", {"duration": 10}, task=True)

    print(f"Task started: {task.task_id}")

    # Do other work while it runs...

    # Get the result when ready
    result = await task.result()
```

This works with tools, resources, and prompts:

```python
tool_task = await client.call_tool("my_tool", args, task=True)
resource_task = await client.read_resource("file://large.txt", task=True)
prompt_task = await client.get_prompt("my_prompt", args, task=True)
```

## Working with Task Objects

All task types share a common interface for retrieving results, checking status, and receiving updates.

To get the result, call `await task.result()` or simply `await task`. This blocks until the task completes and returns the result. You can also check status without blocking using `await task.status()`, which returns the current state (`"working"`, `"completed"`, `"failed"`, or `"cancelled"`) along with any progress message from the server.

```python
task = await client.call_tool("analyze", {"text": "hello"}, task=True)

# Check current status (non-blocking)
status = await task.status()
print(f"{status.status}: {status.statusMessage}")

# Wait for result (blocking)
result = await task.result()
```

For more control over waiting, use `task.wait()` with an optional timeout or target state:

```python
# Wait up to 30 seconds for completion
status = await task.wait(timeout=30.0)

# Wait for a specific state
status = await task.wait(state="completed", timeout=30.0)
```

To cancel a running task, call `await task.cancel()`.

### Real-Time Status Updates

Register callbacks to receive status updates as the server reports progress. Both sync and async callbacks are supported.

```python
def on_status_change(status):
    print(f"Task {status.taskId}: {status.status} - {status.statusMessage}")

task.on_status_change(on_status_change)

# Async callbacks work too
async def on_status_async(status):
    await log_status(status)

task.on_status_change(on_status_async)
```

## Graceful Degradation

You can always pass `task=True` regardless of whether the server supports background tasks. Per the MCP specification, servers without task support execute the operation immediately and return the result inline. The Task API provides a consistent interface either way.

```python
task = await client.call_tool("my_tool", args, task=True)

if task.returned_immediately:
    print("Server executed immediately (no background support)")
else:
    print("Running in background")

# Either way, this works
result = await task.result()
```

This means you can write task-aware client code without worrying about server capabilities.

## Complete Example

```python
import asyncio
from fastmcp import Client

async def main():
    async with Client(server) as client:
        # Start background task
        task = await client.call_tool(
            "slow_computation",
            {"duration": 10},
            task=True,
        )

        # Subscribe to updates
        def on_update(status):
            print(f"Progress: {status.statusMessage}")

        task.on_status_change(on_update)

        # Do other work while task runs
        print("Doing other work...")
        await asyncio.sleep(2)

        # Wait for completion and get result
        result = await task.result()
        print(f"Result: {result.content}")

asyncio.run(main())
```
