MCP Tasks and elicitation: run a long job without losing control

The documented Claude Code path is a public beta requiring CLI v2.1.304 or later, a task-capable server and protocol revision 2026-07-28. Current eligibility includes the interactive terminal, but not the VS Code extension or desktop app. Provider, feature-flag and session restrictions still apply; the version number alone is insufficient. Check the Claude Code support conditions for your session.

Start in the main interactive conversation with a server you already trust. Confirm its documented task support and a harmless operation, such as exporting a test dataset. Installing a plugin that advertises MCP is not enough. If you are still choosing a server, use the MCP server guide first.

Before calling a tool, write down the input, output and acceptable side effects. Here is an editorial prompt to adapt to your server; it does not invent a tool name:

Use the connected server's documented export tool on the test dataset.
Create one export only. Report its task ID and current state.
Do not submit another export if the connection drops.
When it finishes, show the output location and record count.
If you need a choice, ask me before continuing.

A useful acceptance case has a known small input: for example, three synthetic records with unique IDs. Expect exactly those records in the returned artifact. A message saying “accepted” passes only the submission step.

Use /tasks to inspect the job. If the server asks a question, close that view to see the elicitation dialog. Declining a question is not necessarily cancellation of the underlying work. These are documented CLI behaviors.

Read what the question changes: a destination, date range or format can materially change the output. For an unexpected request, decline and inspect the task rather than guessing. The elicitation specification distinguishes form input from URL-based flows. Form elicitation is not a place to request passwords or API keys. Check the destination and purpose before following an authentication URL.

For your first trial, record three observations: the accepted job handle, any question you answered, and the final server state. That makes it easier to distinguish a stalled job from one waiting for you.

Select the task in /tasks and press x to request cancellation. An ordinary Esc is not a general background-job stop button. Reconnect the server before trying to cancel a disconnected task. Remote work may continue after the CLI exits; a local stdio server normally stops with the process unless that server documents persistence. See CLI cancellation and resume behavior.

If the outcome is unknown, resume the same session and inspect the existing task before resubmitting. Check the destination for an already-created output. For operations that send, buy or modify records, ask the service owner how it handles duplicate requests; a fresh prompt is not an idempotency guarantee.

Implement the extension negotiated by your client, not a mixture of examples from different protocol revisions. The current Tasks extension defines task state, polling and input handling. Keep a stable identifier and an explicit final outcome. Do not mark a job complete merely because it entered your queue.

Build a small acceptance matrix: normal completion, required user input, declined input, cancellation, disconnected client and repeated status checks. For each case, specify both the visible state and the service-side effect. Also test that one user cannot inspect another user's job. These are implementation checks to design, not results we obtained from a live server.

Open the actual export and compare IDs and count with your fixture. Record incomplete or inaccessible outputs as failures even when the chat sounds confident. Save the job ID with your own notes so an operator can trace the same attempt.

MCP is a protocol, not a billing allowance. Your Claude subscription or model usage, the server's compute and any downstream API can have separate charges. Check the connected service's current limits before a long run. There is no universal “free background job” entitlement.