mcp-kit

An interactive CLI for scaffolding ready-to-develop Model Context Protocol servers and clients.

Documentation · Getting started · Issues · Changelog

Overview

mcp-kit turns the repetitive setup around an MCP application into a short, guided workflow. Choose what you are building, select a language and transport, then decide how much engineering infrastructure you want. The CLI writes a working project that follows the same choices all the way through its source, scripts, tests, and documentation.

It is designed for both sides of an MCP integration:

Project	What the generated starter provides
MCP Server	A structured server with tools, resources, prompts, lifecycle handling, and the transports you selected
MCP Client	A client with connection helpers and an end-to-end example that discovers and uses tools, resources, and prompts

Why mcp-kit?

• Start with a real MCP workflow — generated starters include working protocol primitives and a small knowledge-base example, not an empty entry file.
• Build either side — create a server or a client from the same CLI.
• Choose your runtime shape — use TypeScript or JavaScript with STDIO, Streamable HTTP, or both.
• Keep only the tooling you need — start with the recommended setup or select individual plugins.
• Develop immediately — generated scripts cover local development, production builds, linting, testing, and coverage when enabled.
• Stay close to the protocol — server templates separate tools, resources, prompts, and transports into focused modules.

Quick start

Run the CLI with your package manager:

npm create mcp-kit@latest

pnpm create mcp-kit

yarn create mcp-kit

bun create mcp-kit and deno init --npm mcp-kit are also supported.

The interactive setup asks for:

Choice	Options
Project type	MCP Server · MCP Client
Language	TypeScript · JavaScript
Transport	STDIO · Streamable HTTP · both
Template	Standard · Custom
Plugins	GitHub Actions · Vitest · MCP Inspector (server) · ESLint/Prettier/Lint-staged · Commitlint · Changelog
Dependencies	Install now · install later

After generation:

cd mcp-server-starter
npm run dev

What gets generated

The exact output follows your answers. A TypeScript server with both transports uses a structure like this:

src/
├── data/                 # Example knowledge-base data
├── prompts/              # User-controlled prompt templates
├── resources/            # Application-controlled context
├── services/
│   ├── stdio.ts          # Local process transport
│   └── web.ts            # Streamable HTTP transport
├── tools/                # Model-controlled actions
├── types/
├── utils/
└── index.ts              # CLI entry point

Depending on the selected plugins, the project can also include Vitest, GitHub Actions, MCP Inspector, lint and formatting rules, Git hooks, commit checks, and changelog tooling.

Server starter

The server template demonstrates how the three MCP primitives work together:

1. search_documents searches the starter knowledge base and returns structured results with stable resource URIs.
2. kb://documents/{documentId} exposes the matching document as an MCP resource.
3. review_document packages that resource into a reusable review prompt.

The same server can be generated for local STDIO integrations, a Streamable HTTP endpoint at /mcp, or both.

Common development commands:

npm run dev       # start the default development transport
npm run dev:stdio # start the STDIO server, when selected
npm run dev:web   # start the Streamable HTTP server, when selected
npm run build

Client starter

The client template includes transport-specific connection helpers and an end-to-end demo that:

• negotiates the protocol version;
• lists tools, resources, and prompts;
• calls search_documents;
• reads the returned resource URI;
• retrieves the review_document prompt;
• closes the client connection cleanly.

Use it as a runnable reference or as the base for your own MCP host integration.

Standard or custom setup

The Standard template is the fast path. It enables GitHub Actions, Vitest, code-quality tooling, commit checks, changelog support, and MCP Inspector for server projects.

Choose Custom when you want a smaller starter and select only the plugins that belong in your workflow.

Documentation

• What is MCP Kit?
• Getting started
• What is MCP?

Contributing

Contributions and bug reports are welcome. Open an issue or submit a pull request, and follow the project Code of Conduct.

Contributors

License

MIT © Michael Sun