MCP Server Tutorial: Build Your First Model Context Protocol Server Step by Step

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is changing how AI assistants interact with the outside world. Instead of relying on baked-in knowledge or one-off API integrations, MCP gives AI models like Claude a standardized way to connect to external tools, databases, and live data sources. If you've ever wished your AI assistant could query your database, read your files, or call your custom APIs — MCP is how you make that happen. In this MCP server tutorial, we'll build a fully functional MCP server from scratch using TypeScript and the official @modelcontextprotocol/sdk. You'll understand the protocol's architecture, implement tools and resources, set up transport layers, and connect your server to Claude Desktop. By the end, you'll have a working MCP server you can extend for any use case. If you're building APIs alongside your MCP server, our API Tester can help you debug endpoints quickly, and the JSON Formatter is invaluable for inspecting the JSON-RPC messages MCP uses under the hood. Wha