Expose local_provider property, deprecate FastMCP.remove_tool()

[jlowin]

FastMCP.remove_tool() only operated on the local provider but gave misleading errors if a tool existed on a different provider (e.g. a mounted subserver). Rather than adding parallel remove_resource()/remove_prompt()/remove_template() methods that all share this limitation, the server's LocalProvider is now accessible as a public property — making it explicit that removal is scoped to locally-registered components.

mcp = FastMCP()

@mcp.tool
def my_tool() -> str: ...

# Old (now deprecated):
mcp.remove_tool("my_tool")

# New — works for all component types:
mcp.local_provider.remove_tool("my_tool")
mcp.local_provider.remove_resource("data://info")
mcp.local_provider.remove_prompt("my_prompt")
mcp.local_provider.remove_template("resource://{id}/data")

FastMCP.remove_tool() still works but emits a DeprecationWarning.

Closes #2880

[coderabbitai]

Walkthrough

This PR exposes the FastMCP server's LocalProvider instance through a new public local_provider property, enabling direct access to the server's locally-registered components. The removal methods (remove_tool, remove_resource, remove_prompt) are repositioned from the top-level FastMCP interface to the LocalProvider interface. The remove_tool method is deprecated with a runtime warning directing users to mcp.local_provider.remove_tool() instead. Documentation is updated across multiple files to reflect the new API usage patterns and namespace boundaries without altering underlying behavior.

Possibly related PRs

• Unify component storage in LocalProvider #2680: Exposes and routes server-level add/remove decorator APIs through the LocalProvider, implementing the same provider-centric refactor pattern.
• Add standalone decorators and eliminate fastmcp.fs module #2832: Refactors LocalProvider surface and related registration/decorator flows, directly modifying the same provider abstraction boundaries.
• feat: Provider abstraction for dynamic MCP components #2622: Shifts component management onto provider abstractions in the server class, implementing a related architectural change.

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 3 | ❌ 2

❌ Failed checks (2 warnings)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Description check	⚠️ Warning	The description lacks required contributors checklist items, missing issue closure confirmation and documentation update verification.	Add completed contributors checklist items including closure of issue #2880, verification of development workflow, testing, and documentation updates.
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 75.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (3 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title accurately summarizes the two main changes: exposing the local_provider property and deprecating FastMCP.remove_tool(), which aligns with the changeset.
Linked Issues check	✅ Passed	The PR successfully addresses issue #2880 by exposing LocalProvider as a public property, enabling removal of resources (and other components) at runtime alongside tools.
Out of Scope Changes check	✅ Passed	All changes directly support the primary objective of exposing local_provider and deprecating FastMCP.remove_tool(), with documentation updates consistently reflecting the new API.

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✨ 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 feat/local-provider-property

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No actionable comments were generated in the recent review. 🎉

🧹 Recent nitpick comments

src/fastmcp/server/server.py (1)

371-381: Docstring omits remove_template.

The local_provider docstring shows examples for remove_tool, remove_resource, and remove_prompt, but LocalProvider also exposes remove_template(uri_template, version=None). For completeness and discoverability, add it.

Suggested fix

     `@property`
     def local_provider(self) -> LocalProvider:
         """The server's local provider, which stores directly-registered components.
 
         Use this to remove components:
 
             mcp.local_provider.remove_tool("my_tool")
             mcp.local_provider.remove_resource("data://info")
             mcp.local_provider.remove_prompt("my_prompt")
+            mcp.local_provider.remove_template("resource://{id}/data")
         """
         return self._local_provider

Based on learnings: "Changes affecting tool interactions must be adopted, applied, and tested on all major MCP object types: Tools, Resources, Resource Templates, and Prompts."

docs/servers/providers/local.mdx (1)

79-87: Consider adding remove_template to the removal examples.

LocalProvider also supports remove_template(uri_template) for removing resource templates. Including it here keeps the documentation aligned with the full API surface.

 mcp.local_provider.remove_tool("my_tool")
 mcp.local_provider.remove_resource("data://info")
 mcp.local_provider.remove_prompt("my_prompt")
+mcp.local_provider.remove_template("resource://{id}/data")

Based on learnings: "Changes affecting tool interactions must be adopted, applied, and tested on all major MCP object types: Tools, Resources, Resource Templates, and Prompts."

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