📌Overview

Purpose: To provide a minimal server template for developing AI assistant tools using the ModelContextProtocol.

Overview: The MCP Starter Server is designed for building tools compatible with AI assistants like Claude, featuring a straightforward setup for developers to create and integrate functionalities seamlessly.

Key Features:

Simple Tool Example: Offers a basic "hello world" tool that demonstrates essential functionalities and serves as a template for further development.
TypeScript + esbuild Setup: Utilizes TypeScript and esbuild for efficient build processes and type safety, ensuring robust and maintainable code.
Preconfigured Development Tools: Includes out-of-the-box configurations for development, debugging, and monitoring via tools like the MCP Inspector, allowing for effective testing and iteration.

MCP Starter Server

A minimal ModelContextProtocol (MCP) server template for building AI assistant tools. This starter provides a basic structure for creating MCP tools compatible with AI assistants like Claude.

Features

Simple "hello world" tool example
TypeScript + esbuild setup
Preconfigured development tools

Setup to Build and Run with Claude

Download and install the Claude desktop app from https://claude.ai/download
Clone the repository, install dependencies, and build:
```
npm install
npm run build
```
Configure Claude to use this MCP server. If this is your first MCP server, in the root of this project run:
```
echo '{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-starter": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["'$PWD'/dist/index.cjs"]
    }
  }
}' > ~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
```
This should create an entry in your claude_desktop_config.json like:
```
"mcpServers": {
  "mcp-starter": {
    "command": "node",
    "args": ["/Users/matt/code/mcp-starter/dist/index.cjs"]
  }
}
```
If you have existing MCP servers, add the mcp-starter block to your existing config. Make sure the args path points to <path_to_repo_on_your_machine>/mcp-starter/dist/index.cjs.
Restart Claude Desktop.
Look for the hammer icon with the number of available tools in Claude's interface to confirm the server is running.
To develop your MCP server, use:
```
npm run dev
```
Remember to restart Claude each time to restart the MCP server.

Developing with Inspector

For development and debugging, use the MCP Inspector tool, which provides a visual interface for testing and monitoring MCP server interactions.

See the Inspector documentation for setup details.

To test locally with Inspector:

npm run inspect

To build on file changes:

npm run watch

Or run both watcher and inspector together:

npm run dev

Publishing

To distribute your server:

Set up an NPM account at https://www.npmjs.com/
Publish your package with:
```
npm publish
```

After publishing, others can install the server with a config entry like:

"mcpServers": {
  "<your-package-name>": {
    "command": "npx",
    "args": ["<your-package-name>"]
  }
}

Available Tools

The server provides:

hello_tool: A simple example tool that takes a name parameter and returns a greeting.

Creating New Tools

To add new tools:

Define the tool schema in index.ts.
Add it to the tools array in the ListToolsRequestSchema handler.
Implement it in the CallToolRequestSchema handler.

Refer to the hello_tool implementation as an example.

mcp-starter