MCP Server Development Skill

Context

You are building MCP servers for LocalCowork, a desktop AI agent where the LLM calls pre-built tools via MCP — it never writes code. Each server is an independent process communicating via JSON-RPC over stdio.

The PRD (docs/PRD.md) is the product source of truth. The tool registry (docs/mcp-tool-registry.yaml) defines exact tool signatures. The pattern doc (docs/patterns/mcp-server-pattern.md) is the canonical template.

Before You Start

Read these files in order — they give you the complete picture:

1. docs/mcp-tool-registry.yaml — find the server you're building and read all its tool definitions (params, returns, confirmation, undo metadata).
2. docs/PRD.md Section 6 — read the use cases that reference this server to understand how tools will be composed in real workflows. The "Implementation Notes for Claude Code" in each UC are especially important.
3. docs/patterns/mcp-server-pattern.md — the canonical implementation pattern with templates for both TypeScript and Python.
4. mcp-servers/_shared/ — the base classes your server must extend.

Language Selection

Check docs/mcp-tool-registry.yaml for the server's designated language:

Language	Servers
TypeScript	filesystem, calendar, email, task, data, audit, clipboard, system
Python	document, ocr, knowledge, meeting, security

The language is non-negotiable — it's driven by dependency requirements (ADR-002).

Implementation Checklist

For each tool in the registry, work through these steps:

Step 1: Create the tool file

One tool per file. Place in mcp-servers/<server>/src/tools/<tool_name>.ts (or .py).

Step 2: Define typed params

Match the registry EXACTLY. Use zod (TypeScript) or pydantic (Python).

TypeScript example:

const paramsSchema = z.object({
  path: z.string().describe('Absolute path to directory'),
  recursive: z.boolean().optional().default(false),
  filter: z.string().optional(),
});

Python example:

class Params(BaseModel):
    path: str = Field(description="Path to image file")
    language: Optional[str] = Field(default="eng", description="OCR language")

Step 3: Define typed returns

Match the registry return type. Create a result type/interface.

Step 4: Implement the logic

Follow the PRD implementation notes for this tool. Key principles:

• Use the shared Logger (never print/console.log)
• Use structured MCPError for errors (never throw raw exceptions)
• Validate paths are within sandbox before any filesystem access
• Return structured results that the model can parse

Step 5: Set confirmation metadata

Every tool declares two metadata flags:

• confirmationRequired: does the Agent Core need user confirmation before executing?
• undoSupported: can this action be reversed via the undo stack?

These must match docs/mcp-tool-registry.yaml exactly.

Step 6: Write the unit test

Every tool gets a test file covering:

• Param validation: invalid types, missing required, extra params
• Happy path: correct input → expected output shape
• Error paths: file not found, permission denied, invalid input
• Sandbox enforcement: paths outside sandbox are rejected
• Metadata verification: confirmationRequired and undoSupported match registry

Step 7: Write the smoke test

Every tool also gets a smoke test — a FAST (<500ms) regression check. Use /add-smoke-test for the template, or create manually:

• TypeScript: mcp-servers/<server>/tests/<tool_name>.smoke.test.ts
• Python: mcp-servers/<server>/tests/<tool_name>_smoke_test.py

Smoke tests check:

1. Tool can be imported / instantiated
2. Params schema accepts valid input
3. Params schema rejects garbage input
4. Confirmation/undo metadata matches registry
5. (Non-destructive tools only) Basic execution doesn't crash

These are auto-discovered by ./scripts/smoke-test.sh and run before every push.

Step 8: Lint and type check

Before moving to the next tool:

• TypeScript: npx tsc --noEmit must pass
• Python: mypy --strict src/ must pass

Step 9: Run smoke tests

After all tools for the server are done, verify the whole server passes:

./scripts/smoke-test.sh --server <server-name>

Server Entry Point

After all tools are implemented, create the entry point:

• TypeScript: src/index.ts — imports all tools, registers them, starts JSON-RPC
• Python: src/__init__.py — imports all tools, registers them, starts JSON-RPC

The entry point uses the shared MCPServer base class from _shared/.

Validation

After implementing all tools, run the validation command:

/validate-server <server-name>

This checks every tool against the PRD spec and reports any mismatches.

Common Pitfalls

1. Don't deviate from the registry signatures. Even if a param seems unnecessary, include it — the model's tool definitions are auto-generated from the registry.

2. Don't combine multiple tools into one file. One file per tool is how the project stays navigable across 68+ tools.

3. Don't skip the sandbox check on filesystem tools. Every path must be validated against the user's granted directories.

4. Don't use console.log or print. Always use the shared Logger. The audit system depends on structured log output.

5. Don't forget to handle the case where the model sends bad arguments. The local LLM may occasionally hallucinate params. Validation should catch this gracefully and return a helpful error, not crash.