mcp-starter

A minimal, production-ready MCP server template built with TypeScript. Clone this, replace the example tools with your API, and your users can interact with your product through Claude, Cursor, or any MCP-compatible AI agent.

Built lean by design — exposes only what users need, with token-efficient tool descriptions and structured responses.

# Clone
git clone https://github.com/SoftwareSavants/mcp-starter.git
cd mcp-starter

# Install
npm install

# Configure (pre-filled with DummyJSON — works out of the box)
cp .env.example .env

# Build & run
npm run build
npm start

Then add to your Claude Desktop config (~/Library/Application\ Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json):

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "my-product": {
      "command": "node",
      "args": [
        "--env-file=path/to/mcp-starter/.env",
        "path/to/mcp-starter/dist/index.js"
      ]
    }
  }
}

This template supports two transport modes. Use whichever fits your deployment:

| | Stdio (default) | HTTP + OAuth | | ------------ | ------------------------- | ------------------------------ | | Auth | API key via env var | OAuth 2.1 (PKCE) | | Best for | Local dev, Claude Desktop | Production, multi-user, remote | | Run | npm start | npm run start:http |

The default. Set API_BASE_URL and API_KEY as environment variables — the server authenticates all API calls with the key.

Runs an Express server with full OAuth 2.1 support. The MCP server acts as a proxy — it delegates authentication to your upstream OAuth provider (e.g. your product's existing OAuth server).

# Required environment variables for OAuth mode
export API_BASE_URL="https://api.yourproduct.com"
export OAUTH_AUTHORIZATION_URL="https://auth.yourproduct.com/authorize"
export