MCP Starter Kit

Minimal TypeScript MCP server template you can clone and customize.

This starter includes:

• one example tool registration

• Zod input validation

• stdio transport setup

• dotenv loading for local environment variables

Quick Start

1) Install dependencies

npm install

2) Configure environment variables (optional)

Create a .env file in the project root. Add only the variables your tools need.

GENERIC_API_KEY=your_api_key_here

3) Build the server

npm run build

This generates build/index.js.

Related MCP server: TypeScript MCP Server Boilerplate

Connect in an MCP Client

Add this server to your MCP client config.

Example configuration:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "mcp-starter-kit": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "--env-file=<PROJECT_ROOT>/.env",
        "<PROJECT_ROOT>/build/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

Then restart your MCP client.

Customize

Start editing src/index.ts:

• rename the sample tool (tool_name)

• define a useful input schema

• replace the sample handler logic with your own behavior

Development Notes

• Build output is written to build/.

• Keep secrets in .env (already ignored by Git).

• Update .env.example whenever you add required environment variables.