MCP Server Health Checks: How to Validate Uptime and Readiness

Ensure your remote MCP servers are healthy and reachable. This ops guide explains lightweight health check methods, how MCP clients behave when servers are down, and provides an incident response checklist for maintaining reliable MCP integrations.

What This Guide Covers

This guide helps you monitor and validate MCP server health:

Key Topics

Health check methods: Lightweight ways to verify server availability
Client behavior: How MCP clients handle server downtime
Incident response: Checklist for handling server outages
Verification steps: How to confirm Corcava MCP is reachable
Monitoring patterns: Best practices for ongoing health monitoring

Health Check Methods

HTTP Health Endpoint

Most remote MCP servers provide a health endpoint you can check:

Corcava MCP Health Check

curl -X GET https://mcp.corcava.com/health \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"

Expected Response:

{ "status": "healthy", "timestamp": "2026-01-25T10:00:00Z", "version": "1.0.0" }

Status codes: 200 = healthy, 503 = degraded, 500 = down

MCP Tools List Check

Verify the server responds to MCP protocol requests:

Tools List Verification

# In your MCP client, test with: "List available MCP tools from Corcava"

What to expect:

Healthy server: Returns list of tools (list_tasks, create_task, etc.)
Unhealthy server: Connection timeout, 503 error, or empty response

How Clients Behave When Servers Are Down

Understanding client behavior helps you diagnose issues:

Connection Failures

Symptom: Client cannot establish connection

Client behavior:

Shows connection error in UI
Tools list appears empty or shows "connection failed"
Tool calls fail immediately with network error

Action: Check server endpoint, network connectivity, firewall rules

Timeout Errors

Symptom: Requests hang then timeout

Client behavior:

Tool calls show "timeout" or "request timed out"
Client may retry automatically (depends on client)
User sees loading spinner that never completes

Action: Check server load, network latency, timeout settings

503 Service Unavailable

Symptom: Server returns 503 status

Client behavior:

Shows "service unavailable" error
May display retry suggestions
Tools may appear but calls fail

Action: Server is degraded—check status page, wait for recovery

Incident Response Checklist

When an MCP server appears down, follow this checklist:

Incident Response Steps

Verify the issue: Test health endpoint and tools list from multiple clients
Check status page: Visit Corcava status page for known issues
Test connectivity: Verify network can reach server endpoint (DNS, firewall, proxy)
Check API key: Verify API key is active and not revoked
Review logs: Check client logs for specific error messages
Test from different network: Rule out local network issues
Contact support: If issue persists, contact Corcava support with error details
Document incident: Record timeline, symptoms, and resolution for future reference

Verifying Corcava MCP is Reachable

Method 1: Health Endpoint

Quick Health Check

# Using curl curl -X GET https://mcp.corcava.com/health \ -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" # Expected: {"status":"healthy","timestamp":"..."}

Success indicators: HTTP 200 response with status "healthy"

Method 2: MCP Client Test

Client Verification

# In your MCP client (Claude, Cursor, etc.): "List all available tools from Corcava MCP"

What to look for:

Tools list includes Corcava tools (list_tasks, create_task, etc.)
No connection errors or timeouts
Response time is reasonable (<2 seconds)

Method 3: Simple Tool Call

Read-Only Test

# Test with a read-only operation: "List my projects from Corcava"

Success: Returns project list without errors

Monitoring Best Practices

Recommended Monitoring Setup

Regular health checks: Ping health endpoint every 5 minutes
Alert on failures: Set up alerts for consecutive health check failures
Monitor response times: Track latency trends to catch degradation early
Log tool call failures: Monitor error rates in tool calls
Status page subscription: Subscribe to Corcava status page for announcements