MCP Server Starter

Want to build your own MCP server?

MCP Server Starter gives you a basic structure to run local tools with Cursor, Claude, and others using the MCP standard.

Features

• Flexible Communication

  • Supports multiple communication protocols between client and server,
  • stdio: Local usage
  • Streamable HTTP: Remote and local useage
  • sse: Remote and local usage (deprecated)~~

• Minimal Setup - Get started quickly with a basic server implementation.

• Cursor AI Integration - Includes example .cursor/mcp.json configuration.

• TypeScript - Add type safety to your project.

Todo

• [ ] Add option to publish your own packages
• [ ] Better CLI support for scaffolding
• [ ] Prompts to build tools on the fly

Getting Started

Prerequisites

• Node.js (Specify version if necessary)
• An MCP-compatible client (e.g., Cursor)

Usage

Supported Transport Options

Model Context Protocol Supports multiple Transport methods.

stdio

Recommend for local setups

Code Editor Support

Add the code snippets below

• Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json

Local development/testing

Use this if you want to test your mcp server locally

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-starter-mcp-stdio": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./bin/cli.mjs", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Published Package

Use this when you have published your package in the npm registry

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-starter-mcp-stdio": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["my-mcp-server", "--stdio"]
    }
  }
}

Streamable HTTP

Important: Streamable HTTP is not supported in Cursor yet

Recommend for remote server usage

Important: In contrast to stdio you need also to run the server with the correct flag

Local development Use the streamable http transport

1. Start the MCP Server Run this in your terminal

node ./bin/cli.mjs --http --port 4200

Or with mcp inspector

npm run dev-http
# npm run dev-sse (deprecated)

2. Add this to your config

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-starter-mcp-http": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": ["./bin/cli.mjs", "--http", "--port", "4001"]
      // "args": ["./bin/cli.mjs", "--sse", "--port", "4002"] (or deprecated sse usage)
    }
  }
}

Published Package

Use this when you have published your package in the npm registry

Run this in your terminal

npx my-mcp-server --http --port 4200
# npx my-mcp-server --sse --port 4201 (deprecated)

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-starter-mcp-http": {
      "url": "http://localhost:4200/mcp"
      // "url": "http://localhost:4201/sse"
    }
  }
}

Use the Inspector

Use the inspect command to debug your mcp server

Command-Line Options

Protocol Selection

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Links

• X/Twitter: @kregenrek
• Bluesky: @kevinkern.dev

Courses

• Learn Cursor AI: Ultimate Cursor Course
• Learn to build software with AI: instructa.ai

See my other projects:

• AI Prompts - Curated AI Prompts for Cursor AI, Cline, Windsurf and Github Copilot
• codefetch - Turn code into Markdown for LLMs with one simple terminal command
• aidex A CLI tool that provides detailed information about AI language models, helping developers choose the right model for their needs.# mcp-starter