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MCP Best Practices Guide

Work in Progress

Welcome to the Model Context Protocol Best Practices Guide

This comprehensive guide provides best practices, patterns, and practical guidance for developing, deploying, and maintaining Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers in production environments.

What is MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how applications provide context to large language models (LLMs). Think of MCP like a USB-C port for AI applications—it provides a standardized way to connect AI models to different data sources and tools.

What This Guide Covers

This guide is organized into practical sections that cover the entire MCP server lifecycle:

🧭 Overview

Get started with MCP fundamentals, architecture, and core concepts. Learn about the protocol standards and set up your first server.

⭐ Best Practices

Essential standards for building robust, maintainable MCP servers including project structure, dependency management, and coding conventions.

💻 Development

Language-specific guides for Python, JavaScript/TypeScript, and Go with real-world examples, patterns, and implementation details.

🧪 Testing

Comprehensive testing strategies including unit, integration, and end-to-end testing approaches for MCP servers.

📦 Packaging

How to package and distribute MCP servers using language-specific package managers and container technologies.

🚀 Deployment

Deployment strategies for cloud platforms, on-premise environments, Kubernetes, and CI/CD pipelines.

⚙️ Operations

Production operations including monitoring, logging, performance optimization, scaling, and incident response.

🔧 Management

Lifecycle management covering versioning, updates, rollbacks, and configuration management.

🛡️ Security

Security best practices including authentication, authorization, secrets management, and vulnerability scanning.

🔌 Integration

How to integrate MCP servers with Claude Desktop, gateways, and other AI applications and platforms.

❓ FAQ

Common questions, troubleshooting guides, and migration assistance.

Who This Guide Is For

  • Developers building MCP servers and integrations
  • DevOps Engineers deploying and operating MCP infrastructure
  • Engineering Teams adopting MCP in production environments
  • Technical Leaders evaluating MCP for their organizations

Getting Started

If you're new to MCP, start with:

  1. Overview - Learn MCP fundamentals and architecture
  2. Getting Started - Build your first MCP server
  3. Best Practices - Understand essential standards
  4. Development Guide - Deep dive into implementation

Contributing

This guide is community-driven. We welcome contributions, corrections, and improvements. The content reflects real-world experience and evolving best practices from the MCP community.

Protocol Information

Ready to build production-grade MCP servers? Let's get started! 🚀