mcp-server-building

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Building MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers for Claude extensibility. Use when creating MCP servers, building custom Claude tools, extending Claude with external integrations, or developing tool packages for Claude Desktop.

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NPX Install

npx skill4agent add yonatangross/orchestkit mcp-server-building

MCP Server Building

Build custom MCP servers to extend Claude with tools, resources, and prompts.

Architecture

+-------------+     JSON-RPC      +-------------+
|   Claude    |<----------------->| MCP Server  |
|   (Host)    |   stdio/SSE/WS    |  (Tools)    |
+-------------+                   +-------------+
Three Primitives:
  • Tools: Functions Claude can call (with user approval)
  • Resources: Data Claude can read (files, API responses)
  • Prompts: Pre-defined prompt templates

Quick Start

Minimal Python Server (stdio)

python
from mcp.server import Server
from mcp.server.stdio import stdio_server
from mcp.types import Tool, TextContent

server = Server("my-tools")

@server.list_tools()
async def list_tools() -> list[Tool]:
    return [
        Tool(
            name="greet",
            description="Greet a user by name",
            inputSchema={
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "name": {"type": "string", "description": "Name to greet"}
                },
                "required": ["name"]
            }
        )
    ]

@server.call_tool()
async def call_tool(name: str, arguments: dict) -> list[TextContent]:
    if name == "greet":
        return [TextContent(type="text", text=f"Hello, {arguments['name']}!")]
    raise ValueError(f"Unknown tool: {name}")

async def main():
    async with stdio_server() as (read, write):
        await server.run(read, write, server.create_initialization_options())

if __name__ == "__main__":
    import asyncio
    asyncio.run(main())

TypeScript Server (production)

typescript
import { Server } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/index.js";
import { StdioServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js";
import {
  CallToolRequestSchema,
  ListToolsRequestSchema,
} from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/types.js";

const server = new Server(
  { name: "my-tools", version: "1.0.0" },
  { capabilities: { tools: {} } }
);

server.setRequestHandler(ListToolsRequestSchema, async () => ({
  tools: [{
    name: "fetch_url",
    description: "Fetch content from a URL",
    inputSchema: {
      type: "object",
      properties: { url: { type: "string" } },
      required: ["url"],
    },
  }],
}));

server.setRequestHandler(CallToolRequestSchema, async (request) => {
  if (request.params.name === "fetch_url") {
    const { url } = request.params.arguments as { url: string };
    const response = await fetch(url);
    return { content: [{ type: "text", text: await response.text() }] };
  }
  throw new Error("Unknown tool");
});

await server.connect(new StdioServerTransport());

Detailed Guides

  • Transport patterns: See references/transport-patterns.md for stdio, SSE, WebSocket
  • Tool definitions: See references/tool-definitions.md for schemas, error handling, caching
  • Resource patterns: See references/resource-patterns.md for files and dynamic data
  • Testing: See references/testing-patterns.md for MCP Inspector and pytest
  • Auto-discovery: See references/auto-discovery.md for CC 2.1.7+ optimization

Key Decisions

DecisionChoiceRationale
Transportstdio for CLI, SSE for webstdio simplest, SSE for browsers
LanguageTypeScript for productionBetter SDK support, type safety
Error handlingReturn errors as textClaude can interpret and retry

Anti-Patterns

  1. Stateful tools without cleanup - Always clean up connections
  2. Blocking synchronous code - Use
    asyncio.to_thread()
  3. Missing input validation - Validate before processing
  4. Secrets in tool output - Never return credentials
  5. Unbounded responses - Limit response sizes

Related Skills

  • function-calling
    - LLM function calling patterns
  • agent-loops
    - Agentic patterns using MCP tools
  • input-validation
    - Input validation for arguments

Resources