Stateful streamablehttp-mcp-server with Node.js

Overview

Spin up your own custom MCP Server in less than 5 mintues!!!🚀🚀🚀

Most tutorials on MCP (Model Context Protocol) Servers are using stdio protocols (i.e. not for remote connections) and are Stateless and very limited in functionaties (e.g. in terms of how to build Tools/Resources)...thus I decided to build and share this robust and easy-to-extend template Stateful MCP Server with the Streamable-http transport.

This is perhaps the easiest to use fully-functioning template for you to build your own Node.js STATEFUL MCP Server using the Streamable-http transport, with a modular folder structure for Tools, Resources and server and an in-memory database (i.e.Node-Cache) for managing stateful transport objects which further boosts server performance.

It is designed for easy extension and integration, allowing you to add your own tools and resources for custom workflows.

Nevertheless I have also built some out-of-the-box Tools and Resources for you as helpful examples:

1. For Tools:

   By default, two simple yet realistic tools, i.e. a Database tool and an API tool, are loaded for you and you can directly extend the template with your own tools:

• listMongoDatabasesAndCollections: which allows you to List all databases and collections in a MongoDB Atlas cluster

• fetch-pokemon: which allows you to fetch a certain Pokemon of your liking

2. For Resources:

   By default, both ways of loading Resources are provided in the template for you. Namely, loading a Dynamic resource with parameters and loading a Static resource without parameters

---

Quick Start guide

1. git clone and install dependencies:

   git clone https://github.com/HarveyYifanLi/Template-Nodejs-MCP-Server.git
   
   cd Template-Nodejs-MCP-Server
   
   npm install
   
   (Note that depending on your directory permission setting, you might need to do:
   `sudo npm install` instead)

2. Start the server: (Requires Node.js 18+ for native fetch and ESM support).

   node app.js

   The server will listen on port 3001 by default.

   Baaaaaammm, you are now done!! Your custom MCP Server is now up and ready to 🚀🚀🚀

   You can now directly connect to this MCP Server at http://localhost:3001/mcp from any MCP Host that runs a MCP Client. See the section MCP Client Connection guide for examples.

Using Tools and Resources

• The server loads and registers all tools and resources from tools/ and resources/ via server/index.js.
• You can call tools and resources via the MCP protocol endpoints (/mcp).
• See app.js and server/index.js for the registration and request handling logic.

---

Extending the App

Adding Custom Tools

1. Create a new tool module in tools/:

   // tools/myCustomTool.js
   export function createMyCustomTool() {
     return {
       name: 'my-custom-tool',
       title: 'My Custom Tool',
       description: 'Describe what your tool does',
       inputSchema: {
         /* zod schema */
       },
       async execute(args) {
         // Your tool logic here
         return { content: [{ type: 'text', text: 'Result!' }] };
       },
     };
   }

2. Export your tool in tools/index.js:

   import { createMyCustomTool } from './myCustomTool.js';
   export { createListMongoTool, createFetchPokemonTool, createMyCustomTool };

3. Register your tool in server/index.js:

   import { createMyCustomTool } from '../tools/index.js';
   server.registerTool(
     createMyCustomTool().name,
     { ...createMyCustomTool() },
     createMyCustomTool().execute
   );

Adding Custom Resources

1. Create a new resource module in resources/:

   // resources/myResource.js
   export function createMyResource() {
     return {
       name: 'my-resource',
       resourceUri: 'myresource://example',
       title: 'My Resource',
       description: 'Describe your resource',
       async execute(uri, params) {
         return { contents: [{ uri: uri.href, text: 'Resource data!' }] };
       },
     };
   }

2. Export your resource in resources/index.js:

   import { createMyResource } from './myResource.js';
   export {
     createAppConfigResource,
     createUserProfileResource,
     createMyResource,
   };

3. Register your resource in server/index.js:

   import { createMyResource } from '../resources/index.js';
   server.registerResource(
     createMyResource().name,
     createMyResource().resourceUri,
     {
       title: createMyResource().title,
       description: createMyResource().description,
     },
     createMyResource().execute
   );

---

MCP Client Connection guide:

1. Connecting from GitHub Copilot

   • (I've ALREADY included the folowing directory and file to this repo but in case you are curious about how, see the below two steps)
   • within the root of /Template-Nodejs-MCP-Server create a .vscode directory with a file named mcp.json
   • copy and paste the following content to mcp.json to allow connection to this local MCP Server:

   {
   "servers": {
       "my-mcp-server": {
       "url": "http://localhost:3001/mcp",
       "type": "http"
       }
   },
   "inputs": []
   }
   

   • (I assume you already enabled GitHub Copilot to VSCode...if not plz do so) In VSCode, open View/Command Paletteand under the dropdown, select the option called MCP: Add Server...

   • (See picture) Choose the HTTP option for connection.

   • (See picture) Enter this local MCP Server URL http://localhost:3001/mcp into the input box and press 'Enter' to Continue. Then Choose "Workspace" and press 'Enter' to Continue.

   • Then you should be able to see the listed MCP Tools available to use from this MCP server

   • Now you can directly interact with GitHub Copilot Agent to call/use these tools via natural language:

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Extra Configuration Note

1. Environment Variables:
   • Copy .env.example to .env (or create .env manually).
   • Required variables (IF you decided to extend and use the listMongoDatabasesAndCollections tool):
     • MONGODB_URI