MCP Server Scaffold

Steps

1. Purpose. Ask what this server exposes (one sentence) and list the tools it will provide as verb_noun names (e.g. search_files, create_ticket) — not noun-only names (files, ticket).

2. Transport. Ask stdio (local, single-user) or HTTP/SSE (shared, multi-user, needs auth). Default to stdio for personal/local tools.

3. Per-tool contract. For every tool, require before writing code:

   • Explicit input schema (types, required vs optional fields)
   • Explicit error envelope — what does a failure response look like, and does it distinguish "bad input" from "upstream service down"?
   • Idempotency note — is calling it twice with the same input safe? Side-effecting tools (write/delete/send) must say so in the description so the calling agent treats them with the right caution.