How to build your first MCP server in 10 minutes

I built my first MCP server last week and it was way simpler than I expected. Here is exactly how, no fluff. Prerequisites Node.js 20+ 10 minutes Step 1: Scaffold npx create-mcp-server my-first-server cd my-first-server npm install This generates a complete TypeScript project with one example tool. Step 2: Add your tool Open src/index.ts. Replace the hello tool with whatever you want: server.setRequestHandler(CallToolRequestSchema, async (request) => { const { name, arguments: args } = request.params; if (name === 'current_time') { return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: new Date().toISOString() }] }; } throw new Error(`Unknown tool: ${name}`); }); Step 3: Build and connect npm run build npm start Add to Claude Desktop config and you are done. The whole thing took me 8 minutes. Most of that was reading the docs. What I learned The MCP SDK handles all the transport layer — you just define tools StdioServerTransport means your server runs as a subprocess. No HTTP, no port conflicts Error handling is important. If your tool crashes, the whole MCP connection breaks Want to try it? npm install -g mcp-hub mcp-hub search mcp Built with mcp-hub. If this helps, buy me a coffee.