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Build MCP Server — Setup Guide

Source: anthropics/claude-plugins-official · 3,148 installs Category: MCP Development / Agent Infrastructure License: MIT · Language: TypeScript, Python · Published: 2026

Anthropic's official skill for building MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers. Step-by-step guidance from transport layer setup through tool registration, resource exposure, and prompt templates. The most-installed MCP server creation guide on skills.sh.

What It Does

Phase What You Build
Transport stdio or HTTP/SSE transport layer for MCP communication
Tools Register tools with typed inputs and outputs
Resources Expose data sources as MCP resources with URI templates
Prompts Define reusable prompt templates for agent consumption
Testing Validate server behavior with MCP Inspector

Covers both TypeScript (via @modelcontextprotocol/sdk) and Python (via mcp package) implementations with complete, runnable examples.

Prerequisites

  • Node.js 18+ (for TypeScript servers) or Python 3.10+ (for Python servers)
  • Familiarity with JSON-RPC concepts
  • Hermes Agent (or any MCP-compatible client) for testing

Installation

npx skills add anthropics/claude-plugins-official@build-mcp-server

Direct from GitHub

git clone https://github.com/anthropics/claude-plugins-official.git
cd claude-plugins-official/build-mcp-server

Quick Start — TypeScript

mkdir my-mcp-server && cd my-mcp-server
npm init -y
npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk zod
npm install -D typescript @types/node

Quick Start — Python

mkdir my-mcp-server && cd my-mcp-server
python3 -m venv venv
source venv/bin/activate
pip install mcp

Usage with Hermes Agent

Once your MCP server is built, register it in Hermes:

# ~/.hermes/config.yaml
mcp_servers:
  my-custom-server:
    command: node
    args: ["dist/index.js"]
    # or for Python:
    # command: python3
    # args: ["server.py"]

Hermes will auto-discover the server's tools and make them available to all agents.

# Verify the server is connected
hermes mcp test
hermes mcp list  # should show your server's tools

Core Patterns

Tool Registration (TypeScript)

server.setRequestHandler(ListToolsRequestSchema, async () => ({
  tools: [{
    name: "get_weather",
    description: "Get current weather for a city",
    inputSchema: {
      type: "object",
      properties: {
        city: { type: "string", description: "City name" }
      },
      required: ["city"]
    }
  }]
}));

Tool Registration (Python)

@server.list_tools()
async def list_tools() -> list[Tool]:
    return [
        Tool(
            name="get_weather",
            description="Get current weather for a city",
            inputSchema={
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "city": {"type": "string"}
                },
                "required": ["city"]
            }
        )
    ]

CorpusIQ Use Cases

Use Case How
Custom data connectors Build MCP servers for proprietary data sources
Internal tool exposure Wrap internal APIs as MCP tools for Hermes agents
Multi-agent tool sharing One MCP server, consumed by all CorpusIQ agents
Client deployments Build customer-specific MCP servers for white-label

Troubleshooting

Issue Fix
Server not discovered Verify command/args in config.yaml; check hermes mcp test
Tool calling fails Validate inputSchema matches what you're sending
Python import errors Ensure mcp package is in the venv
stdio transport hangs Use HTTP/SSE transport for long-running servers

Companion Skills

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Part of the Hermes Skills Library. Curated by CorpusIQ — one MCP endpoint, all your business tools. Content remains attributed to original authors and repositories.