How to publish your MCP server to npm

1#!/usr/bin/env node
2
3import { McpServer } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/mcp.js";
4import { StdioServerTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/server/stdio.js";
5import { z } from "zod";
6
7// ... rest of your server code

1{
2  "name": "my-weather-mcp-server",
3  "version": "1.0.0",
4  "description": "MCP server for weather data lookups",
5  "type": "module",
6  "main": "dist/index.js",
7  "bin": {
8    "my-weather-mcp-server": "dist/index.js"
9  },
10  "files": [
11    "dist/**/*.js",
12    "dist/**/*.d.ts"
13  ],
14  "scripts": {
15    "dev": "tsx src/index.ts",
16    "build": "tsc",
17    "start": "node dist/index.js",
18    "inspect": "npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector tsx src/index.ts",
19    "prepublishOnly": "npm run build"
20  },
21  "keywords": ["mcp", "model-context-protocol", "weather", "ai-tools"],
22  "license": "MIT",
23  "engines": {
24    "node": ">=18.0.0"
25  },
26  "dependencies": {
27    "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk": "^1.0.0",
28    "zod": "^3.22.0"
29  },
30  "devDependencies": {
31    "typescript": "^5.0.0",
32    "tsx": "^4.0.0",
33    "@types/node": "^20.0.0"
34  }
35}

1// tsconfig.json
2{
3  "compilerOptions": {
4    "target": "ES2022",
5    "module": "NodeNext",
6    "moduleResolution": "NodeNext",
7    "outDir": "./dist",
8    "rootDir": "./src",
9    "declaration": true,
10    "declarationMap": true,
11    "sourceMap": true,
12    "strict": true,
13    "esModuleInterop": true,
14    "skipLibCheck": true,
15    "forceConsistentCasingInFileNames": true
16  },
17  "include": ["src/**/*"],
18  "exclude": ["node_modules", "dist"]
19}

1# Build
2npm run build
3
4# Verify the shebang is in the compiled file
5head -1 dist/index.js
6# Should output: #!/usr/bin/env node
7
8# Test the compiled version with Inspector
9npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/index.js

1# Create a global link to your package
2npm link
3
4# Test running it as if installed globally
5my-weather-mcp-server
6# (This starts the server on stdio — press Ctrl+C to stop)
7
8# Test with Inspector
9npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector my-weather-mcp-server
10
11# Clean up when done
12npm unlink -g my-weather-mcp-server

1# Log in to npm (one-time setup)
2npm login
3
4# Publish the package
5npm publish
6
7# For scoped packages:
8npm publish --access public

1// Claude Desktop: ~/Library/Application Support/Claude/claude_desktop_config.json
2{
3  "mcpServers": {
4    "weather": {
5      "command": "npx",
6      "args": ["-y", "my-weather-mcp-server"]
7    }
8  }
9}
10
11// Cursor: .cursor/mcp.json
12{
13  "mcpServers": {
14    "weather": {
15      "command": "npx",
16      "args": ["-y", "my-weather-mcp-server"]
17    }
18  }
19}
20
21// VS Code: .vscode/mcp.json
22{
23  "servers": {
24    "weather": {
25      "command": "npx",
26      "args": ["-y", "my-weather-mcp-server"]
27    }
28  }
29}