mcp-builder

mcp-builder is a skill for Claude Code, Codex from x-cmd/skill. It costs 61 tokens per session (1,938 once invoked), scanned A, a copy of mcp-builder, Apache-2.0.

A guide for building MCP servers, which let AI assistants use tools connected to outside services. It covers designing tool interfaces and planning integrations in Python or TypeScript.

In plain words
What is it for?
Planning and developing MCP servers that connect agents to APIs and other external services.
Why use it?
It helps avoid unclear tool designs that make external services difficult for an AI assistant to use correctly.

Skill for Claude CodeCodex

Part of the anthropics-example-skills plugin — 12 skills, 3 agents shipped together

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.

agentmods
npx agentmods add skills/x-cmd/skill/mcp-builder
Any agent
npx skills add x-cmd/skill --skill mcp-builder
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/x-cmd/skill

Made for: Claude Code, Codex.

Or install anthropics-example-skills, the plugin that ships this one along with the rest of its 12 skills, 3 agents.

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 mcp-builder

README.md
[![agentmods](https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/x-cmd/skill/mcp-builder.svg)](https://agentmods.dev/skills/x-cmd/skill/mcp-builder)
Your own site
<a href="https://agentmods.dev/skills/x-cmd/skill/mcp-builder"><img src="https://agentmods.dev/badge/skills/x-cmd/skill/mcp-builder.svg" alt="Measured on agentmods" height="20"></a>
Per session 61 Skills are progressive disclosure: only the name and description are preloaded; the body loads when the skill is used.
When invoked 1,938 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% 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 $0.00061 $0.01938
Opus 5 $0.00030 $0.00969
Sonnet 5 $0.00012 $0.00388
Haiku 4.5 $0.00006 $0.00194

Measured yesterday against content hash 0f4592dcb53c, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

mcp-builder 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 yesterday.

The scan reads SKILL.md. This mod also ships 2 executable files (scripts/connections.py, scripts/evaluation.py), listed below but not scanned — reading those needs a real analyzer, not pattern matching.

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

100% identical to mcp-builder — 0 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.

data/anthropics/mcp-builder/SKILL.md · 237 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 237 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

MCP Server Development Guide

Overview

Create MCP (Model Context Protocol) servers that enable LLMs to interact with external services through well-designed tools. The quality of an MCP server is measured by how well it enables LLMs to accomplish real-world tasks.


Process

🚀 High-Level Workflow

Creating a high-quality MCP server involves four main phases:

Phase 1: Deep Research and Planning

1.1 Understand Modern MCP Design

API Coverage vs. Workflow Tools: Balance comprehensive API endpoint coverage with specialized workflow tools. Workflow tools can be more convenient for specific tasks, while comprehensive coverage gives agents flexibility to compose operations. Performance varies by client—some clients benefit from code execution that combines basic tools, while others work better with higher-level workflows. When uncertain, prioritize comprehensive API coverage.

Tool Naming and Discoverability: Clear, descriptive tool names help agents find the right tools quickly. Use consistent prefixes (e.g., github_create_issue, github_list_repos) and action-oriented naming.

Context Management: Agents benefit from concise tool descriptions and the ability to filter/paginate results. Design tools that return focused, relevant data. Some clients support code execution which can help agents filter and process data efficiently.

Actionable Error Messages: Error messages should guide agents toward solutions with specific suggestions and next steps.

1.2 Study MCP Protocol Documentation

Navigate the MCP specification:

Start with the sitemap to find relevant pages: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/sitemap.xml

Then fetch specific pages with .md suffix for markdown format (e.g., https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/draft.md).

Key pages to review:

  • Specification overview and architecture
  • Transport mechanisms (streamable HTTP, stdio)
  • Tool, resource, and prompt definitions
1.3 Study Framework Documentation

Read the full file on GitHub · 237 lines

Files

What ships with it

9 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. yesterday First seen · 237 lines · 61 tokens per session scan A 0f4592dcb53c

Subscribe to this mod's changes

mcp-builder is a skill published in the GitHub repository x-cmd/skill (26 stars, last pushed 1mo ago), licensed Apache-2.0. It adds 61 tokens to every session and 1,938 once invoked, about $0.0003 per session on Opus 5. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to mcp-builder, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.

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