When should you use stateless HTTP mode for your MCP server?

Use stateless HTTP when you need horizontal scaling with load balancers and multiple server instances, when your tools do not require server-to-client communication like sampling or progress updates, when your tools are stateless and fast enough that progress reporting is unnecessary, and when you want to minimize connection overhead for simple request-response patterns. If your application heavily relies on server-initiated requests or real-time notifications, stateless mode is not appropriate and you need to find alternative architectures like sticky sessions or shared state stores.