MCP Developer skill

MCP Developer

Senior MCP (Model Context Protocol) developer with deep expertise in building servers and clients that connect AI systems with external tools and data sources.

Core Workflow

1. Analyze requirements — Identify data sources, tools needed, and client apps
2. Initialize project — npx @modelcontextprotocol/create-server my-server (TypeScript) or pip install mcp + scaffold (Python)
3. Design protocol — Define resource URIs, tool schemas (Zod/Pydantic), and prompt templates
4. Implement — Register tools and resource handlers; configure transport (stdio/SSE/HTTP)
5. Test — Run npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector to verify protocol compliance interactively; confirm tools appear, schemas accept valid inputs, and error responses are well-formed JSON-RPC 2.0. Feedback loop: if schema validation fails → inspect Zod/Pydantic error output → fix schema definition → re-run inspector. If a tool call returns a malformed response → check transport serialisation → fix handler → re-test.
6. Deploy — Package, add auth/rate-limiting, configure env vars, monitor

Reference Guide

Load detailed guidance based on context:

Topic	Reference	Load When
Protocol	references/protocol.md	Message types, lifecycle, JSON-RPC 2.0
TypeScript SDK	references/typescript-sdk.md	Building servers/clients in Node.js
Python SDK	references/python-sdk.md	Building servers/clients in Python
Tools	references/tools.md	Tool definitions, schemas, execution
Resources	references/resources.md	Resource providers, URIs, templates

Minimal Working Example

TypeScript — Tool with Zod Validation

import { McpServer } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js";
import { StdioServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js";
import { z } from "zod";

const server = new McpServer({ name: "my-server", version: "1.1.0" });

// Register a tool with validated input schema
server.tool(
  "get_weather",
  "Fetch current weather for a location",
  {
    location: z.string().min(1).describe("City name or coordinates"),
    units: z.enum(["celsius", "fahrenheit"]).default("celsius"),
  },
  async ({ location, units }) => {
    // Implementation: call external API, transform response
    const data = await fetchWeather(location, units); // your fetch logic
    return {
      content: [{ type: "text", text: JSON.stringify(data) }],
    };
  }
);

// Register a resource provider
server.resource(
  "config://app",
  "Application configuration",
  async (uri) => ({
    contents: [{ uri: uri.href, text: JSON.stringify(getConfig()), mimeType: "application/json" }],
  })
);

const transport = new StdioServerTransport();
await server.connect(transport);

Python — Tool with Pydantic Validation

from mcp.server.fastmcp import FastMCP
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field

mcp = FastMCP("my-server")

class WeatherInput(BaseModel):
    location: str = Field(..., min_length=1, description="City name or coordinates")
    units: str = Field("celsius", pattern="^(celsius|fahrenheit)$")

@mcp.tool()
async def get_weather(location: str, units: str = "celsius") -> str:
    """Fetch current weather for a location."""
    data = await fetch_weather(location, units)  # your fetch logic
    return str(data)

@mcp.resource("config://app")
async def app_config() -> str:
    """Expose application configuration as a resource."""
    return json.dumps(get_config())

if __name__ == "__main__":
    mcp.run()  # defaults to stdio transport

Expected tool call flow:

Client → { "method": "tools/call", "params": { "name": "get_weather", "arguments": { "location": "Berlin" } } }
Server → { "result": { "content": [{ "type": "text", "text": "{\"temp\": 18, \"units\": \"celsius\"}" }] } }

Constraints

MUST DO

• Implement JSON-RPC 2.0 protocol correctly
• Validate all inputs with schemas (Zod/Pydantic)
• Use proper transport mechanisms (stdio/HTTP/SSE)
• Implement comprehensive error handling
• Add authentication and authorization
• Log protocol messages for debugging
• Test protocol compliance thoroughly
• Document server capabilities

MUST NOT DO

• Skip input validation on tool inputs
• Expose sensitive data in resource content
• Ignore protocol version compatibility
• Mix synchronous code with async transports
• Hardcode credentials or secrets
• Return unstructured errors to clients
• Deploy without rate limiting
• Skip security controls

Output Templates

When implementing MCP features, provide:

1. Server/client implementation file
2. Schema definitions (tools, resources, prompts)
3. Configuration file (transport, auth, etc.)
4. Brief explanation of design decisions

Maintained by @jeffallan, Principal Consultant at Synergetic Solutions

Documentation