Boilerplate MCP Server

A production-ready foundation for developing custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in TypeScript. Provides a complete layered architecture pattern, working example implementation, and comprehensive developer infrastructure to connect AI assistants with external APIs and data sources.

Latest Update (Feb 2026): Updated to MCP SDK 1.26.0 and Zod 4.3.6 with continued modern registerTool patterns and streamable HTTP improvements. See docs/MODERNIZATION.md for details.

Features

• Security First: DNS rebinding protection, localhost-only binding, secure error handling
• Dual Transport Support: STDIO and Streamable HTTP transports with automatic fallback
• Layered Architecture: Clean separation between CLI, tools, resources, prompts, controllers, services, and utilities
• Type Safety: Full TypeScript implementation with Zod v4.3.6 schema validation
• All MCP Primitives: Tools, resources, and prompts (with examples)
• ResourceLink Pattern: Token-efficient resource references for large responses
• TOON Output Format: Token-Oriented Object Notation for 30-60% fewer tokens than JSON
• JMESPath Filtering: Extract only needed fields from responses to reduce token costs
• Raw Response Logging: Automatic logging of large API responses to /tmp/mcp// with truncation guidance
• Modern SDK: Uses MCP SDK v1.26.0 with registerTool API pattern (ready for v2 migration)
• Complete IP Address Example: Tools, resources, prompts, and CLI commands for IP geolocation
• Comprehensive Testing: Unit and integration tests with coverage reporting (47 tests passing)
• Production Tooling: ESLint, Prettier, semantic-release, and MCP Inspector integration
• Error Handling: Structured error handling with isError field and contextual logging
• Security Documentation: Complete SECURITY.md with authentication implementation guides

What is MCP?

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for securely connecting AI systems to external tools and data sources. This boilerplate implements the MCP specification with a clean, layered architecture that can be extended to build custom MCP servers for any API or data source.

Prerequisites

• Node.js (>=20.x): Download
• Git: For version control

Quick Start

# Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/aashari/boilerplate-mcp-server.git
cd boilerplate-mcp-server

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Build the project
npm run build

# Run in different modes:

# 1. CLI Mode - Execute commands directly
npm run cli -- get-ip-details 8.8.8.8
npm run cli -- get-ip-details                                            # Get your current IP
npm run cli -- get-ip-details 1.1.1.1 -e                                 # With extended data
npm run cli -- get-ip-details 8.8.8.8 --jq "{ip: query, country: country}"  # JMESPath filter
npm run cli -- get-ip-details 8.8.8.8 -o json                            # JSON output

# 2. STDIO Transport - For AI assistant integration (Claude Desktop, Cursor)
npm run mcp:stdio

# 3. HTTP Transport - For web-based integrations
npm run mcp:http

# 4. Development with MCP Inspector
npm run mcp:inspect                         # Auto-opens browser with debugging UI

Transport Modes