name: mcp-creation description: > Scaffolding and implementation phase for MCP server development. Use when creating an MCP server from scratch, scaffolding a TypeScript or Python project, implementing tool handlers, wiring server startup, configuring package.json or pyproject.toml, or writing the main server entry point. Covers project initialization, SDK usage, tool handler implementation, and server lifecycle setup for both TypeScript and Python runtimes.

MCP Creation

Scaffold, implement tool handlers, and wire server startup for MCP servers.

Intent Router

Load reference files on demand — only when the corresponding runtime is in scope:

• references/typescript-scaffold.md — Load when building with TypeScript, using npm create, or wiring @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
• references/python-scaffold.md — Load when building with Python, using the mcp package, or using mcp.server.fastmcp.FastMCP

Quick Start — Runtime Selection

Load the matching scaffold reference for full templates, build commands, and error handling patterns.

TypeScript Implementation Pattern

Minimal server with one tool:

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-server", version: "1.0.0" },
  { capabilities: { tools: {} } }
);

server.setRequestHandler(ListToolsRequestSchema, async () => ({
  tools: [{ name: "echo", description: "Return input unchanged.", inputSchema: { type: "object", properties: { message: { type: "string", description: "Message to echo" } }, required: ["message"] } }],
}));

server.setRequestHandler(CallToolRequestSchema, async (req) => {
  if (req.params.name === "echo") {
    return { content: [{ type: "text", text: req.params.arguments?.message as string }], isError: false };
  }
  return { content: [{ type: "text", text: `Unknown tool: ${req.params.name}` }], isError: true };
});

await server.connect(new StdioServerTransport());

Python Implementation Pattern

Minimal FastMCP server:

from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP

mcp = FastMCP("my-server")

@mcp.tool()
def echo(message: str) -> str:
    """Return the input message unchanged."""
    return message

if __name__ == "__main__":
    mcp.run()

Tool Handler Contract

Every tool handler must follow these rules:

• Return a string or a content array — never return None or undefined
• Never throw uncaught exceptions — catch all errors and return error content
• Validate all inputs before processing — do not trust that required params are present
• Handle missing optional parameters with documented defaults
• Log to stderr only — never write to stdout in stdio servers

Server Lifecycle

stdio: The process is spawned by the client; it runs until the client disconnects. Handle SIGINT for clean shutdown. Never exit on a tool error — only exit on fatal startup failure.

SSE: Bind to an HTTP port; accept connections from clients; handle SIGINT to release the port.

Gate

mcp-creation is complete when:

• Server process starts without errors
• tools/list (via Inspector or manual JSON-RPC call) returns all tools declared in the capability inventory
• No tool handler throws an uncaught exception on valid input

Proceed to mcp-testing only after the Inspector confirms all tools are registered.

Safety Notes

Critical: In stdio servers, stdout is the JSON-RPC protocol channel. Any non-JSON output on stdout — including console.log() in TypeScript or plain print() in Python — corrupts the protocol stream and causes the client to disconnect with a parse error. Use process.stderr.write() (TypeScript) or print(..., file=sys.stderr) (Python) for all diagnostic logging.

Resource Index