build-mcp-server

build-mcp-server is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from HK-hub/AgentSkills. It costs 111 tokens per session (2,542 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of build-mcp-server, MIT.

A guided starting point for building an MCP server, a program that exposes tools or data to an AI assistant through the Model Context Protocol.

In plain words
What is it for?
It helps plan integrations with cloud APIs, local processes, filesystems, desktop apps, hardware, or other external services.
Why use it?
It helps choose the right connection type and deployment shape before code is written, reducing the risk of a costly redesign.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Written for no agent in particular: nothing here depends on one. Also seen: mentions Claude Code.

Good fit It helps plan integrations with cloud APIs, local processes, filesystems, desktop apps, hardware, or other external services.

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Install with agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server
Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

Any agent
npx skills add HK-hub/AgentSkills --skill build-mcp-server
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/HK-hub/AgentSkills

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Wrote this? Show the measurements

A badge with what this costs and how it scanned, read live from this page, so it follows the numbers instead of freezing them. Markdown for a README, HTML for a documentation site or a project page.

agentmods badge for build-mcp-server

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server/github.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server/github.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>

Or the 80×15 button, for a site that already has a row of RSS and ATOM ones. Only the verdict fits; the numbers stay here.

agentmods 80×15 button for build-mcp-server

Your own site · 80×15
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/hk-hub/agentskills/build-mcp-server.svg" alt="Reviewed on agentmods" width="80" height="20"></a>
Per session 111 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 2,542 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. A grade says what 26 rules found in the file — not that it is safe.
Origin 94% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5.1 $0.00111 $0.02542
Opus 5 $0.00056 $0.01271
Sonnet 5 $0.00022 $0.00508
Haiku 4.5 $0.00011 $0.00254

Measured 9d ago against content hash fe990c4a4521, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-09-09, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

build-mcp-server scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 9d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

94% identical to build-mcp-server — 13 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

build-mcp-server/SKILL.md · 209 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 209 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

Build an MCP Server

You are guiding a developer through designing and building an MCP server that works seamlessly with Claude. MCP servers come in many forms — picking the wrong shape early causes painful rewrites later. Your first job is discovery, not code.

Do not start scaffolding until you have answers to the questions in Phase 1. If the user's opening message already answers them, acknowledge that and skip straight to the recommendation.


Phase 1 — Interrogate the use case

Ask these questions conversationally (batch them into one message, don't interrogate one-at-a-time). Adapt wording to what the user has already told you.

1. What does it connect to?

If it connects to… Likely direction
A cloud API (SaaS, REST, GraphQL) Remote HTTP server
A local process, filesystem, or desktop app MCPB or local stdio
Hardware, OS-level APIs, or user-specific state MCPB
Nothing external — pure logic / computation Either — default to remote

2. Who will use it?

  • Just me / my team, on our machines → Local stdio is acceptable (easiest to prototype)
  • Anyone who installs it → Remote HTTP (strongly preferred) or MCPB (if it must be local)
  • Users of Claude desktop who want UI widgets → MCP app (remote or MCPB)

3. How many distinct actions does it expose?

This determines the tool-design pattern — see Phase 3.

  • Under ~15 actions → one tool per action
  • Dozens to hundreds of actions (e.g. wrapping a large API surface) → search + execute pattern

4. Does a tool need mid-call user input or rich display?

  • Simple structured input (pick from list, enter a value, confirm) → Elicitation — spec-native, zero UI code. Host support is rolling out (Claude Code ≥2.1.76) — always pair with a capability check and fallback. See references/elicitation.md.
  • Rich/visual UI (charts, custom pickers with search, live dashboards) → MCP app widgets — iframe-based, needs @modelcontextprotocol/ext-apps. See build-mcp-app skill.
  • Neither → plain tool returning text/JSON.

Read the full file on GitHub · 209 lines

Files

What ships with it

8 files beside SKILL.md in the same directory: the scripts, references and assets a skill reads on demand. Not counted in the per-session cost; read them before you install if any of them is executable.

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 9d ago First seen · 209 lines · 111 tokens per session scan A fe990c4a4521

Subscribe to this mod's changes

build-mcp-server is a skill published in the GitHub repository HK-hub/AgentSkills (6 stars, last pushed 22d ago), licensed MIT. It adds 111 tokens to every session and 2,542 once invoked, about $0.0006 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 94% identical to build-mcp-server, differing in 13 lines, and is treated as a copy.