# getting started
set up, run, and verify the MCP Streamable HTTP migration starter.
## prerequisites
- Node.js 20 or later
- npm (ships with Node.js)
no other global tools are required. the SDK v2 alpha packages are vendored locally in `vendor/`.
## install
```bash
git clone https://github.com/yigitkonur/example-mcp-sse.git
cd example-mcp-sse
npm install
```
`npm install` resolves `@modelcontextprotocol/server`, `@modelcontextprotocol/client`, and `@modelcontextprotocol/node` from the tarballs in `vendor/`. no npm registry access is needed for these packages.
## run the server
```bash
npm run dev
```
this uses `tsx` to run `src/server.ts` directly without a build step. the server prints:
```
MCP Streamable HTTP server listening at http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp
Health endpoint: http://127.0.0.1:3000/health
```
## default endpoints
| endpoint | method | purpose |
|-----------|--------|----------------------------------------------|
| `/mcp` | POST | JSON-RPC request/response (initialize, tools/call, etc.) |
| `/mcp` | GET | SSE notification stream for an active session |
| `/mcp` | DELETE | terminate an active session |
| `/health` | GET | health check, returns `{ ok, activeSessions, sessions }` |
| `/` | GET | server metadata (name, transport, endpoint) |
## environment variables
| variable | default | description |
|----------|---------------|--------------------------|
| `PORT` | `3000` | TCP port to listen on |
| `HOST` | `127.0.0.1` | bind address |
the port can also be set via the `--port` CLI flag:
```bash
npm run dev -- --port 4000
```
## quick verify
with the server running, confirm it responds:
```bash
curl http://127.0.0.1:3000/health
```
expected response:
```json
{ "ok": true, "activeSessions": 0, "sessions": [] }
```
to run the full automated smoke test (builds first, then boots the server and calls tools via the SDK client):
```bash
npm run ci
```
to test interactively with the demo client:
```bash
npm run demo:client
```
this connects to `http://127.0.0.1:3000/mcp`, lists tools, calls `calculate` with `7 * 6`, prints the structured result, and terminates the session.
## next steps
- [02-architecture.md](02-architecture.md) -- understand the module layout and request lifecycle
- [03-scaffold-cli.md](03-scaffold-cli.md) -- generate your own project from the template
- [04-sdk-v2-notes.md](04-sdk-v2-notes.md) -- understand v2 SDK changes if migrating from v1
