URL: https://gofastmcp.com/getting-started/installation
Title: Installation - FastMCP

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Install FastMCP
Optional Dependencies
Verify Installation
Dependency Licensing
Upgrading
From FastMCP 2.0
From the MCP SDK
From FastMCP 1.0
From the Low-Level Server API
Troubleshooting
import fastmcp fails after a pip upgrade
Versioning Policy
Contributing to FastMCP
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Installation
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Install FastMCP and verify your setup
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​
Install FastMCP
We recommend using
uv
to install and manage FastMCP.
pip
install
fastmcp
Or with uv:
uv
add
fastmcp
​
Optional Dependencies
FastMCP provides optional extras for specific features. For example, to install the background tasks extra:
pip
install
"
fastmcp[tasks]
"
See
Background Tasks
for details on the task system.
​
Verify Installation
To verify that FastMCP is installed correctly, you can run the following command:
fastmcp
version
You should see output like the following:
$
fastmcp
version
FastMCP
version:
3.0.0
MCP
version:
1.25.0
Python
version:
3.12.2
Platform:
macOS-15.3.1-arm64-arm-64bit
FastMCP
root
path:
~/Developer/fastmcp
​
Dependency Licensing
FastMCP depends on Cyclopts for CLI functionality. Cyclopts v4 includes docutils as a transitive dependency, which has complex licensing that may trigger compliance reviews in some organizations.
If this is a concern, you can install Cyclopts v5 alpha which removes this dependency:
pip
install
"
cyclopts>=5.0.0a1
"
Alternatively, wait for the stable v5 release. See
this issue
for details.
​
Upgrading
​
From FastMCP 2.0
See the
Upgrade Guide
for a complete list of breaking changes and migration steps.
​
From the MCP SDK
​
From FastMCP 1.0
If you’re using FastMCP 1.0 via the
mcp
package (meaning you import FastMCP as
from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
), upgrading is straightforward — for most servers, it’s a single import change. See the
full upgrade guide
for details.
​
From the Low-Level Server API
If you built your server directly on the
mcp
package’s
Server
class — with
list_tools()
/
call_tool()
handlers and hand-written JSON Schema — see the
migration guide
for a full walkthrough.
​
Troubleshooting
​
import fastmcp
fails after a pip upgrade
This affects one specific case: upgrading to FastMCP 3.3 or later from FastMCP 3.2 or earlier with
pip
. Fresh installs and
uv
upgrades are unaffected, so you can skip this unless you did exactly that.
If
import fastmcp
raises
ModuleNotFoundError
, or
from fastmcp import FastMCP
raises
ImportError
, immediately after the upgrade, your install is in a half-removed state. Reinstall in a single step:
pip
install
--force-reinstall
fastmcp
If that doesn’t resolve it, remove both distributions and reinstall from a clean state:
pip
uninstall
-y
fastmcp
fastmcp-slim
pip
install
fastmcp
FastMCP 3.3 moved the importable code from the
fastmcp
distribution into
fastmcp-slim
. During a single-command
pip
upgrade, pip can install the new files and then delete them while uninstalling the old
fastmcp
distribution, whose file manifest still lists those paths.
uv
uninstalls before it installs, so it is unaffected.
​
Versioning Policy
FastMCP follows semantic versioning with pragmatic adaptations for the rapidly evolving MCP ecosystem. Breaking changes may occur in minor versions (e.g., 2.3.x to 2.4.0) when necessary to stay current with the MCP Protocol.
For production use, always pin to exact versions:
fastmcp==3.0.0 # Good
fastmcp>=3.0.0 # Bad - may install breaking changes
See the full
versioning and release policy
for details on our public API, deprecation practices, and breaking change philosophy.
​
Contributing to FastMCP
Interested in contributing to FastMCP? See the
Contributing Guide
for details on:
Setting up your development environment
Running tests and pre-commit hooks
Submitting issues and pull requests
Code standards and review process
Welcome to FastMCP
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