MCP Patterns
Model Context Protocol (MCP) server patterns for building integrations with Claude Code.
Basic MCP Server (Python)
pythonfrom mcp.server import Server from mcp.server.stdio import stdio_server app = Server("my-server") @app.list_tools() async def list_tools(): return [ { "name": "my_tool", "description": "Does something useful", "inputSchema": { "type": "object", "properties": { "query": {"type": "string", "description": "Search query"} }, "required": ["query"] } } ] @app.call_tool() async def call_tool(name: str, arguments: dict): if name == "my_tool": result = await do_something(arguments["query"]) return {"content": [{"type": "text", "text": result}]} raise ValueError(f"Unknown tool: {name}") async def main(): async with stdio_server() as (read_stream, write_stream): await app.run(read_stream, write_stream, app.create_initialization_options()) if __name__ == "__main__": import asyncio asyncio.run(main())
Project Layout
my-mcp-server/ ├── src/ │ └── my_server/ │ ├── __init__.py │ ├── server.py # Main server logic │ ├── tools.py # Tool handlers │ └── resources.py # Resource handlers ├── pyproject.toml └── README.md
Claude Desktop Configuration
Basic Configuration
json{ "mcpServers": { "my-server": { "command": "python", "args": ["-m", "my_server"], "env": { "MY_API_KEY": "your-key-here" } } } }
With uv (Recommended)
json{ "mcpServers": { "my-server": { "command": "uv", "args": ["run", "--directory", "/path/to/my-server", "python", "-m", "my_server"], "env": { "MY_API_KEY": "your-key-here" } } } }
Quick Reference
| Pattern | Use Case | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Tool validation | Input sanitization with Pydantic | ./references/tool-patterns.md |
| Error handling | Graceful failure responses | ./references/tool-patterns.md |
| Multiple tools | CRUD-style tool registration | ./references/tool-patterns.md |
| Static resources | Config/settings exposure | ./references/resource-patterns.md |
| Dynamic resources | Database-backed resources | ./references/resource-patterns.md |
| Environment auth | API key from env vars | ./references/auth-patterns.md |
| OAuth tokens | Token refresh with TTL | ./references/auth-patterns.md |
| SQLite cache | Persistent state storage | ./references/state-patterns.md |
| In-memory cache | TTL-based caching | ./references/state-patterns.md |
| Manual testing | Quick validation script | ./references/testing-patterns.md |
| pytest async | Unit tests for tools | ./references/testing-patterns.md |
Common Issues
| Issue | Solution |
|---|---|
| Server not starting | Check command path, ensure dependencies installed |
| Tool not appearing | Verify list_tools() returns valid schema |
| Auth failures | Check env vars are set in config, not shell |
| Timeout errors | Add timeout to httpx calls, use async properly |
| JSON parse errors | Ensure call_tool returns proper content structure |
Official Documentation
- https://modelcontextprotocol.io - MCP specification
- https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/concepts/tools - Tools reference
- https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/concepts/resources - Resources reference
- https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/python-sdk - Python SDK
- https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers - Official MCP servers
Additional Resources
For detailed patterns, load:
./references/tool-patterns.md- Validation, error handling, multi-tool registration./references/resource-patterns.md- Static and dynamic resource exposure./references/auth-patterns.md- Environment variables, OAuth token refresh./references/state-patterns.md- SQLite persistence, in-memory caching./references/testing-patterns.md- Manual test scripts, pytest async patterns

