What stateless MCP changes for gateways

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) transitioned to a stateless specification on July 28, 2026, fundamentally altering how gateways manage backend connections. Previously, gateways relied on session IDs to track state across multiple backend servers. The new specification removes the initialization handshake and session IDs, requiring gateways to handle requests independently. Developers working on the Agent Router project are currently implementing this shift, utilizing a fan-out approach for discovery and list requests. By moving to a stateless model, gateways can now scale more efficiently, as they no longer need to maintain complex session stores like Redis. While this transition simplifies infrastructure and improves routing performance, it introduces new challenges, such as managing partial failures and handling mixed-version deployments. As the ecosystem adapts, the focus remains on ensuring that stateless backends can be load-balanced without sticky routing, ultimately streamlining the integration of diverse AI agents and tools.