Remove execution methods from Provider base class

[jlowin]

Removes call_tool, read_resource, read_resource_template, and render_prompt methods from the Provider base class. These methods were mistakenly included and don't belong in the provider interface—providers source components, they don't execute them.

Should have been removed entirely in #2663, not marked optional

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This pull request removes four public execution helper methods from the Provider class: call_tool(), read_resource(), read_resource_template(), and render_prompt(). These methods previously delegated to corresponding tool, resource, template, and prompt components while performing type-specific result normalization. The removal also eliminates related imports including Any, ResourceContent, PromptResult, and ToolResult. The list and get methods for tools, resources, templates, and prompts remain unchanged. This change eliminates the default execution paths and implicit single-lookup behavior at the Provider level.

Possibly related PRs

• Replace type: ignore[attr-defined] with isinstance assertions in tests #2665: Introduces the same execution helper methods (call_tool, read_resource, read_resource_template, render_prompt) that this PR removes, representing a direct reversal of changes.
• Refactor provider execution: components own their execution #2663: Also removes the same Provider-level execution helpers and shifts execution responsibility to component instances.
• feat: Provider abstraction for dynamic MCP components #2622: Modifies the Provider abstraction by adding async list, get, call, read, and render methods to a new Provider class.

Pre-merge checks and finishing touches

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The description explains what was removed and why, but lacks the required checklist items from the template (issue reference, testing confirmation, documentation updates, and self-review checkboxes).	Add the required Contributors Checklist and Review Checklist sections with appropriate checkboxes completed to match the repository template.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title clearly and accurately summarizes the main change: removing execution methods from the Provider base class.
Docstring Coverage	✅ Passed	Docstring coverage is 100.00% which is sufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.

✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch remove-provider-execution-methods

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📜 Recent review details

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Review profile: CHILL

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📥 Commits

Reviewing files that changed from the base of the PR and between 4177d83 and 4210daa.

📒 Files selected for processing (1)

• src/fastmcp/server/providers/base.py

🧰 Additional context used

📓 Path-based instructions (1)

**/*.py

📄 CodeRabbit inference engine (AGENTS.md)

**/*.py: Use Python ≥ 3.10 with full type annotations
Never use bare except - be specific with exception types

Files:

• src/fastmcp/server/providers/base.py

🧠 Learnings (1)

📚 Learning: 2025-11-26T21:51:44.174Z

Learnt from: CR
Repo: jlowin/fastmcp PR: 0
File: .cursor/rules/core-mcp-objects.mdc:0-0
Timestamp: 2025-11-26T21:51:44.174Z
Learning: Review and update related Manager classes (ToolManager, ResourceManager, PromptManager) when modifying MCP object definitions

Applied to files:

• src/fastmcp/server/providers/base.py

🧬 Code graph analysis (1)

src/fastmcp/server/providers/base.py (4)

src/fastmcp/prompts/prompt.py (1)

• Prompt (118-322)

src/fastmcp/resources/resource.py (1)

• Resource (137-331)

src/fastmcp/resources/template.py (1)

• ResourceTemplate (97-298)

src/fastmcp/tools/tool.py (1)

• Tool (126-369)

⏰ Context from checks skipped due to timeout of 90000ms. You can increase the timeout in your CodeRabbit configuration to a maximum of 15 minutes (900000ms). (4)

• GitHub Check: Run tests: Python 3.10 on windows-latest
• GitHub Check: Run tests with lowest-direct dependencies
• GitHub Check: Run tests: Python 3.13 on ubuntu-latest
• GitHub Check: Run tests: Python 3.10 on ubuntu-latest

🔇 Additional comments (3)

src/fastmcp/server/providers/base.py (3)

35-38: LGTM! Imports correctly streamlined.

The imports now include only the types needed for method signatures (Prompt, Resource, ResourceTemplate, Tool). The removal of Any, PromptResult, ResourceContent, and ToolResult is consistent with the deleted execution methods.

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55-71: Good documentation of provider semantics.

Line 66 clearly documents that "Components execute themselves via run()/read()/render() - providers just source them". This effectively communicates the separation of concerns and helps future maintainers understand why execution methods don't belong here.

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141-219: Verify no callers depend on the removed execution methods.

The list/get methods are correctly retained for sourcing components. Verification confirms that no code depends on the removed call_tool, read_resource, read_resource_template, or render_prompt methods on providers. All provider method calls in the server and Manager classes use only the retained interface: list_tools, get_tool, list_resources, get_resource, list_resource_templates, get_resource_template, list_prompts, and get_prompt.

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