diff --git a/mcp/mcp-server/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpService.java b/mcp/mcp-server/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpService.java
index c0440710a..176d9d2a1 100644
--- a/mcp/mcp-server/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpService.java
+++ b/mcp/mcp-server/src/main/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpService.java
@@ -135,6 +135,7 @@ public JsonRpcResponse handleRequest(
             var method = req.getMethod();
             return switch (method) {
                 case "initialize" -> handleInitialize(req);
+                case "ping" -> handlePing(req);
                 default -> {
                     initializeProxies(rpcResponse -> {});
                     yield switch (method) {
@@ -218,6 +219,14 @@ private JsonRpcResponse handleInitialize(JsonRpcRequest req) {
         return createSuccessResponse(req.getId(), result);
     }
 
+    private JsonRpcResponse handlePing(JsonRpcRequest req) {
+        return JsonRpcResponse.builder()
+                .id(req.getId())
+                .result(Document.of(Map.of()))
+                .jsonrpc("2.0")
+                .build();
+    }
+
     private JsonRpcResponse handlePromptsList(JsonRpcRequest req) {
         var result = ListPromptsResult.builder()
                 .prompts(prompts.values().stream().map(Prompt::promptInfo).toList())
diff --git a/mcp/mcp-server/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpServerTest.java b/mcp/mcp-server/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpServerTest.java
index 2a885b339..aab97592a 100644
--- a/mcp/mcp-server/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpServerTest.java
+++ b/mcp/mcp-server/src/test/java/software/amazon/smithy/java/mcp/server/McpServerTest.java
@@ -78,6 +78,36 @@ private void initializeWithProtocolVersion(ProtocolVersion protocolVersion) {
         assertEquals(expectedPv, pv);
     }
 
+    @Test
+    public void testPing() {
+        server = McpServer.builder()
+                .name("smithy-mcp-server")
+                .input(input)
+                .output(output)
+                .addService("test-mcp",
+                        ProxyService.builder()
+                                .service(ShapeId.from("smithy.test#TestService"))
+                                .proxyEndpoint("http://localhost")
+                                .model(MODEL)
+                                .build())
+                .build();
+
+        server.start();
+
+        write("ping", Document.of(Map.of()), Document.of(42));
+        var response = read();
+        assertEquals(42, response.getId().asNumber().intValue());
+        assertNotNull(response.getResult());
+        assertTrue(response.getResult().asStringMap().isEmpty());
+        assertEquals("2.0", response.getJsonrpc());
+
+        write("ping", Document.of(Map.of()), Document.of("ping-id"));
+        response = read();
+        assertEquals("ping-id", response.getId().asString());
+        assertNotNull(response.getResult());
+        assertTrue(response.getResult().asStringMap().isEmpty());
+    }
+
     @Test
     public void noOutputSchemaWithUnsupportedProtocolVersion() {
         server = McpServer.builder()