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Local Development

Set up your development environment for building and testing MCP servers.

Overview​

Before deploying to agnexus, it's important to test your MCP server locally. This guide helps you set up a local development environment.

Prerequisites​

  • Node.js 18+ (for TypeScript/Node.js servers)
  • Python 3.11+ (for Python servers)
  • Docker (optional, for testing containerized deployments)

Setting Up Your Project​

Python Project​

  1. Create a virtual environment:

    python -m venv venv
    source venv/bin/activate  # On Windows: venv\Scripts\activate

  2. Install dependencies:

    pip install -r requirements.txt

  3. Install FastMCP:

    pip install mcp

Node.js Project​

  1. Initialize project:

    npm init -y

  2. Install dependencies:

    npm install

  3. Install MCP SDK:

    npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

Running Locally​

Python Server​

python main.py

Or with FastMCP:

mcp dev

Node.js Server​

node index.js

Or with npm scripts:

npm start

Testing with MCP Inspector​

Use the MCP Inspector to test your server:

# For HTTP/SSE servers
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector http://localhost:8080

# For STDIO servers
npx @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node index.js

Testing Docker Build​

Test your Dockerfile locally:

# Build image
docker build -t my-mcp-server .

# Run container
docker run -p 8080:8080 \
  -e NOTION_API_KEY=your_key \
  my-mcp-server

# Test
curl http://localhost:8080/health

Environment Variables​

Create a .env file for local development:

NOTION_API_KEY=your_key_here
DATABASE_URL=postgresql://localhost:5432/mydb
DEBUG=true

Load in your code:

  • Python: Use python-dotenv
  • Node.js: Use dotenv

Next Steps​