---
type: concept
title: "Build Your Own MCP Server"
description: "Standing up custom MCP servers (often with LLM help) to expose tools to any client over a standard transport."
tags: [mcp, servers, tools]
videos: [docker-just-made-using-mcp-servers-100x-easier-one-click-installs, build-and-ship-any-mcp-server-in-minutes-full-guide, the-ultimate-guide-to-building-your-own-mcp-servers-free-template, the-mcp-integration-everyone-is-sleeping-on-mcp-custom-ai-agents, claude-mcp-has-changed-ai-forever-heres-what-you-need-to-know, introducing-archon-an-ai-agent-that-builds-ai-agents]
created: 2026-07-21
updated: 2026-07-21
---

# Build Your Own MCP Server

Building your own MCP server means packaging the exact tools you need behind the [Model Context Protocol](./mcp.md) so any client can call them. Consuming public servers is only the entry point: "The true power comes in building our own so we can connect our own agents to any service that we want, all using the simplicity and power of MCP." [0:00:20] You reach for a custom server "when we really need to get down and dirty and build our own MCP servers so we can interact with the services we want and have the full level of customization and control." [0:04:16]

The mental model is the smallest one that fits: a server is an API for agents. "You now essentially have an API endpoint, but instead of it being for a website, it's for an AI agent. And that's really important to keep in mind." [0:06:13] Put plainly, "MCP servers are just APIs, but for agents." [0:14:40] In Python the on-ramp is FastMCP: "You just pip install MCP and then you can import fast MCP which is Anthropic's very easy for way for you to spin up a server", and a hardened starting point matters because the template tries to "incorporate all of the best practices for MCP that I see a lot of people failing to implement." [0:07:17]

LLMs can build much of the server for you. Feed the agent the spec, "use these docs to build an MCP server that searches the web with brave boom and I can just send this in... look at this it built us a full MCP server." [0:16:52] Deployment has matured past the local-only toy stage: "We have enterprisegrade remote MCP deployments with platforms like Cloudflare that actually make it really straightforward" [0:01:28], and Docker's catalog collapses install friction to "all I have to do, one click, add MCP server. Boom, we have it now connected." [0:03:39]

The reason to own the server is reach and reuse. One server serves everything: you "run it ourself and then connect our own agents like what I have right here in n8n" [0:18:43]. It configures identically to a hosted client, "the way that you configure your MCP servers is exactly the same way that you would do it for another application like Claude Desktop" [0:04:32]. And the servers you build compose upward, as with Archon's agent marketplace where "just like archon is a tool a subagent that an MCP client can use the agents itself produces can also be used as subagents." [0:18:30] Because a server exposes tools directly, mind [agent security](./agent-security.md) and the [problems with MCP](./mcp-problems.md) as your tool count grows.

## Builds on

- [Model Context Protocol (MCP)](./mcp.md) - the standard your server implements.
- [MCP Server & Client Architecture](./mcp-architecture.md) - server lifespan, transports, and tool registration you wire up.

## Related

- [MCP with Custom Agents](./mcp-with-custom-agents.md) - pairing your server with agents you build yourself.
- [The Problems With MCP Servers](./mcp-problems.md) - the tool-overload and token-bloat traps to design against.
- [Tool Design](./tool-design.md) - writing tools an LLM can actually use well.
- [Agent Security](./agent-security.md) - auth, sanitization, and role-based access on your server.
- [Subagents Pattern](./subagents-pattern.md) - servers published as reusable sub-agents.
- [Vibe Coding](./vibe-coding.md) - having an LLM scaffold the server from docs.
- [Remote MCP Server](./remote-mcp-server.md) - An MCP server hosted in the cloud rather than run locally, making tool access scalable, shareable, and deployable behind a production URL.
- [MCP Transports](./mcp-transports.md) - The ways an MCP client and server talk: stdio, where the client launches the server as a fast local subprocess, versus SSE and its successor streamable HTTP for remote servers.
- [MCP Authentication with OAuth](./mcp-oauth.md) - Putting an OAuth provider (e.g. GitHub) in front of an MCP server as an authentication gateway so only authorized users can reach its tools.

## Tools

- [MCP](../entities/tools/mcp.md) - the protocol and FastMCP tooling used to build servers.
- [Docker](../entities/tools/docker.md) - one-click install and containerized hosting of servers.
- [Archon](../entities/tools/archon.md) - publishes agents as MCP sub-agents in a marketplace.
- [n8n](../entities/tools/n8n.md) - connects self-hosted servers to no-code agents.
- [Claude Code](../entities/tools/claude-code.md) - builds full MCP servers from pasted documentation.
- [FastMCP](../entities/tools/fastmcp.md) - Anthropic's high-level Python interface in the MCP SDK for spinning up an MCP server in one line (name, description, lifespan, host, port) and registering tools with the @mcp.tool decorator.
- [TypeScript](../entities/tools/typescript.md) - The go-to language for building MCP servers, especially remote ones deployed to Cloudflare.

## Sources

- [The ULTIMATE Guide to Building Your Own MCP Servers (Free Template)](../sources/the-ultimate-guide-to-building-your-own-mcp-servers-free-template.md) - "[0:04:16] That's when we really need to get down and dirty and build our own MCP servers so we can interact with the services we want and have the full level of customization and control."
- [Build and Ship Any MCP Server in MINUTES (Full Guide)](../sources/build-and-ship-any-mcp-server-in-minutes-full-guide.md) - "[0:06:13] You now essentially have an API endpoint, but instead of it being for a website, it's for an AI agent. And that's really important to keep in mind."
- [Claude MCP has Changed AI Forever - Here's What You NEED to Know](../sources/claude-mcp-has-changed-ai-forever-heres-what-you-need-to-know.md) - "[0:16:52] use these docs to build an MCP server that searches the web with brave boom and I can just send this in ... look at this it built us a full MCP server"
- [Docker Just Made Using MCP Servers 100x Easier (One Click Installs!)](../sources/docker-just-made-using-mcp-servers-100x-easier-one-click-installs.md) - "[0:03:39] all I have to do, one click, add MCP server. Boom, we have it now connected."
- [The MCP Integration EVERYONE is Sleeping On (MCP + Custom AI Agents)](../sources/the-mcp-integration-everyone-is-sleeping-on-mcp-custom-ai-agents.md) - "[0:04:32] I did it on purpose where I made it so that the way that you configure your MCP servers is exactly the same way that you would do it for another application like Claude Desktop"
- [Introducing Archon - an AI Agent that BUILDS AI Agents](../sources/introducing-archon-an-ai-agent-that-builds-ai-agents.md) - "[0:18:30] just like archon is a tool a subagent that an MCP client can use the agents itself produces can also be used as subagents"
