Glossary

Terms used across the DocSpace MCP Server documentation, grouped by category.

MCP Concepts

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

An open, standardized protocol that lets large language models (LLMs) communicate with external systems in a structured way. MCP defines how an AI agent discovers what actions are available, calls them, and receives results — without custom integration code for every tool. Think of it as a common language between AI and the outside world.

→ See the official MCP introduction

MCP Server

A process that exposes capabilities (tools, resources, prompts) to an MCP client over a defined transport. For example, the DocSpace MCP Server specifically exposes DocSpace operations like creating rooms, uploading, or deleting files so that AI agents can perform these operations through natural language.

MCP Client

Applications like Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Windsurf that connect to an MCP server and use its tools on behalf of an LLM. The client is responsible for passing tool calls from the LLM to the server and returning the results.

MCP Host

The application or environment that runs the MCP client. For example, Claude Desktop is both the host and the client. In more complex setups, the host might be a custom application that embeds an MCP client library.

Transport

The communication mechanism used between an MCP client and server. The DocSpace MCP Server supports three transports: stdio, sse, and streamable-http.

Transport	Description
stdio	Standard input/output. Used for local servers launched as a subprocess by the client.
sse	Server-Sent Events. A legacy HTTP-based transport, deprecated since MCP 2025-03-26 but still supported.
streamable-http	The modern HTTP-based transport. Preferred for remote servers.

Tool

A callable function used in MCP terminology and exposed by an MCP server. When a user prompts the LLM to perform an action, like create a room or fetch a file, it invokes a tool by name with a set of parameters. The DocSpace MCP Server exposes tools organized into toolsets such as files, rooms, folders and people.

Toolset

A named group of related tools. Toolsets let you enable or disable a whole category of functionality at once. For example, enabling the files toolset gives access to all file-related tools without listing each one individually.

Meta Tools

A DocSpace MCP Server-specific feature. When enabled, meta tools allow an MCP client to dynamically discover and select toolsets at session time, rather than having them fixed at server startup. Useful when different clients or users need different subsets of tools.

DocSpace Concepts

Portal

What DocSpace calls a workspace instance. Your portal has a unique URL (e.g. https://your-instance.onlyoffice.com) and contains all your rooms, files, and users. The DOCSPACE_BASE_URL environment variable points to your portal.

Room

A room is a shared space where users work together on files. Rooms have types (e.g. collaboration room, public room), configurable access levels, and their own membership lists. Rooms are distinct from folders as they sit at the top level of the DocSpace hierarchy.

API Key

A credential generated in DocSpace Developer Tools. API keys are used to authenticate programmatic access to the DocSpace API. In the context of the MCP Server, the API key is passed via DOCSPACE_API_KEY and all requests run under the permissions of the key owner.

Authentication & Protocol Terms

Basic Authentication

A simple HTTP authentication scheme where a username and password are sent with each request (Base64-encoded in the Authorization header). Supported by the DocSpace MCP Server via DOCSPACE_USERNAME and DOCSPACE_PASSWORD, but generally less secure than API keys or tokens for automated use.

OAuth 2.0

An authorization framework that lets a user grant a third-party application access to their account without sharing their password. The DocSpace MCP Server supports OAuth 2.0 for HTTP transports, enabling a browser-based login flow instead of static credentials.

Dynamic Client Registration

An OAuth 2.0 extension (RFC 7591) that allows an MCP client to register itself with an authorization server at runtime, without needing a pre-configured client ID and secret. The DocSpace authorization server does not natively support this, so the DocSpace MCP Server emulates it by exposing a registration endpoint that returns pre-configured or user-provided credentials to MCP clients.

SSE (Server-Sent Events)

A web standard for servers to push a stream of events to a client over a single HTTP connection. Used as an MCP transport (sse) and is available at https://mcp.onlyoffice.com/sse. It is one-directional (server → client), and currently superseded by the bi-directional Streamable HTTP for MCP use.

Streamable HTTP

The modern MCP transport introduced in the MCP 2025-03-26 specification. Unlike SSE, it supports full bidirectional communication over HTTP and is the preferred transport for connecting to the remote DocSpace MCP Server at https://mcp.onlyoffice.com/mcp.