---
title: Message Handling
sidebarTitle: Messages
description: Handle MCP messages, requests, and notifications with custom message handlers.
icon: envelope
---

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

<VersionBadge version="2.9.1" />

MCP clients can receive various types of messages from servers, including requests that need responses and notifications that don't. The message handler provides a unified way to process all these messages.

## Function-Based Handler

The simplest way to handle messages is with a function that receives all messages:

```python
from fastmcp import Client

async def message_handler(message):
    """Handle all MCP messages from the server."""
    if hasattr(message, 'root'):
        method = message.root.method
        print(f"Received: {method}")
        
        # Handle specific notifications
        if method == "notifications/tools/list_changed":
            print("Tools have changed - might want to refresh tool cache")
        elif method == "notifications/resources/list_changed":
            print("Resources have changed")

client = Client(
    "my_mcp_server.py",
    message_handler=message_handler,
)
```

## Message Handler Class

For fine-grained targeting, FastMCP provides a `MessageHandler` class you can subclass to take advantage of specific hooks:

```python
from fastmcp import Client
from fastmcp.client.messages import MessageHandler
import mcp.types

class MyMessageHandler(MessageHandler):
    async def on_tool_list_changed(
        self, notification: mcp.types.ToolListChangedNotification
    ) -> None:
        """Handle tool list changes specifically."""
        print("Tool list changed - refreshing available tools")

client = Client(
    "my_mcp_server.py",
    message_handler=MyMessageHandler(),
)
```

### Available Handler Methods

All handler methods receive a single argument - the specific message type:

<Card icon="code" title="Message Handler Methods">
<ResponseField name="on_message(message)" type="Any MCP message">
  Called for ALL messages (requests and notifications)
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_request(request)" type="mcp.types.ClientRequest">
  Called for requests that expect responses
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_notification(notification)" type="mcp.types.ServerNotification">
  Called for notifications (fire-and-forget)
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_tool_list_changed(notification)" type="mcp.types.ToolListChangedNotification">
  Called when the server's tool list changes
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_resource_list_changed(notification)" type="mcp.types.ResourceListChangedNotification">
  Called when the server's resource list changes
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_prompt_list_changed(notification)" type="mcp.types.PromptListChangedNotification">
  Called when the server's prompt list changes
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_progress(notification)" type="mcp.types.ProgressNotification">
  Called for progress updates during long-running operations
</ResponseField>

<ResponseField name="on_logging_message(notification)" type="mcp.types.LoggingMessageNotification">
  Called for log messages from the server
</ResponseField>
</Card>

## Example: Handling Tool Changes

Here's a practical example of handling tool list changes:

```python
from fastmcp.client.messages import MessageHandler
import mcp.types

class ToolCacheHandler(MessageHandler):
    def __init__(self):
        self.cached_tools = []
    
    async def on_tool_list_changed(
        self, notification: mcp.types.ToolListChangedNotification
    ) -> None:
        """Clear tool cache when tools change."""
        print("Tools changed - clearing cache")
        self.cached_tools = []  # Force refresh on next access

client = Client("server.py", message_handler=ToolCacheHandler())
```

## Handling Requests

While the message handler receives server-initiated requests, for most use cases you should use the dedicated callback parameters instead:

- **Sampling requests**: Use [`sampling_handler`](/clients/sampling)
- **Progress requests**: Use [`progress_handler`](/clients/progress)  
- **Log requests**: Use [`log_handler`](/clients/logging)

The message handler is primarily for monitoring and handling notifications rather than responding to requests.