FastMCP

Installation

npm install fastmcp

Quickstart

[!NOTE] There are many real-world examples of using FastMCP in the wild. See the Showcase for examples.

import { FastMCP } from "fastmcp";
import { z } from "zod"; // Or any validation library that supports Standard Schema

const server = new FastMCP({
  name: "My Server",
  version: "1.0.0",
});

server.addTool({
  name: "add",
  description: "Add two numbers",
  parameters: z.object({
    a: z.number(),
    b: z.number(),
  }),
  execute: async (args) => {
    return String(args.a + args.b);
  },
});

server.start({
  transportType: "stdio",
});

That's it! You have a working MCP server.

You can test the server in terminal with:

```bash git clone https://github.com/punkpeye/fastmcp.git cd fastmcp

pnpm install pnpm build

Test the addition server example using CLI:

npx fastmcp dev src/examples/addition.ts

Test the addition server example using MCP Inspector:

npx fastmcp inspect src/examples/addition.ts ```

If you are looking for a boilerplate repository to build your own MCP server, check out fastmcp-boilerplate.

Remote Server Options

FastMCP supports multiple transport options for remote communication, allowing an MCP hosted on a remote machine to be accessed over the network.

HTTP Streaming

HTTP streaming provides a more efficient alternative to SSE in environments that support it, with potentially better performance for larger payloads.

You can run the server with HTTP streaming support:

server.start({
  transportType: "httpStream",
  httpStream: {
    port: 8080,
  },
});

This will start the server and listen for HTTP streaming connections on http://localhost:8080/mcp.

Note: You can also customize the endpoint path using the httpStream.endpoint option (default is /mcp).

Note: This also starts an SSE server on http://localhost:8080/sse.

You can connect to these servers using the appropriate client transport.

For HTTP streaming connections:

import { StreamableHTTPClientTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/streamableHttp.js";

const client = new Client(
  {
    name: "example-client",
    version: "1.0.0",
  },
  {
    capabilities: {},
  },
);

const transport = new StreamableHTTPClientTransport(
  new URL(`http://localhost:8080/mcp`),
);

await client.connect(transport);

For SSE connections:

import { SSEClientTransport } from "@modelcontextprotocol/sdk/client/sse.js";

const client = new Client(
  {
    name: "example-client",
    version: "1.0.0",
  },
  {
    capabilities: {},
  },
);

const transport = new SSEClientTransport(new URL(`http://localhost:8080/sse`));

await client.connect(transport);

HTTPS Support

FastMCP supports HTTPS for secure connections by providing SSL certificate options:

server.start({
  transportType: "httpStream",
  httpStream: {
    port: 8443,
    sslCert: "./path/to/cert.pem",
    sslKey: "./path/to/key.pem",
    sslCa: "./path/to/ca.pem", // Optional: for client certificate authentication
  },
});

This will start the server with HTTPS on https://localhost:8443/mcp.

SSL Options:

• sslCert - Path to SSL certificate file
• sslKey - Path to SSL private key file
• sslCa - (Optional) Path to CA certificate for mutual TLS authentication

For testing, you can generate self-signed certificates:

openssl req -x509 -newkey rsa:2048 -keyout key.pem -out cert.pem -days 365 -nodes -subj "/CN=localhost"

For production, obtain certificates from a trusted CA like Let's Encrypt.

See the https-server example for a complete demonstration.

Custom HTTP Routes

FastMCP allows you to add custom HTTP routes alongside MCP endpoints, enabling you to build comprehensive HTTP services that include REST APIs, webhooks, admin interfaces, and more - all within the same server process.

// Add REST API endpoints
server.addRoute("GET", "/api/users", async (req, res) => {
  res.json({ users: [] });
});

// Handle path parameters
server.addRoute("GET", "/api/users/:id", async (req, res) => {
  res.json({
    userId: req.params.id,
    query: req.query, // Access query parameters
  });
});

// Handle POST requests with body parsing
server.addRoute("POST", "/api/users", async (req, res) => {
  const body = await req.json();
  res.status(201).json({ created: body });
});

// Serve HTML content
server.addRoute("GET", "/admin", async (req, res) => {
  res.send("<html><body><h1>Admin Panel</h1></body></html>");
});

// Handle webhooks
server.addRoute("POST", "/webhook/github", async (req, res) => {
  const payload = await req.json();
  const event = req.headers["x-github-event"];

  // Process webhook...
  res.json({ received: true });
});

Custom routes support:

• All HTTP methods: GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, OPTIONS
• Path parameters (:param) and wildcards (*)
• Query string parsing
• JSON and text body parsing
• Custom status codes and headers
• Authentication via the same authenticate function as MCP
• Public routes that bypass authentication

Routes are matched in the order they are registered, allowing you to define specific routes before catch-all patterns.

Public Routes

By default, custom routes require authentication (if configured). You can make routes public by adding the { public: true } option:

// Public route - no authentication required
server.addRoute(
  "GET",
  "/.well-known/openid-configuration",
  async (req, res) => {
    res.json({
      issuer: "https://example.com",
      authorization_endpoint: "https://example.com/auth",
      token_endpoint: "https://example.com/token",
    });
  },
  { public: true },
);

// Private route - requires authentication
server.addRoute("GET", "/api/users", async (req, res) => {
  // req.auth contains authenticated user data
  res.json({ users: [] });
});

// Public static files
server.addRoute(
  "GET",
  "/public/*",
  async (req, res) => {
    // Serve static files without authentication
    res.send(`File: ${req.url}`);
  },
  { public: true },
);

Public routes are perfect for:

• OAuth discovery endpoints (.well-known/*)
• Health checks and status pages
• Static assets and documentation
• Webhook endpoints from external services
• Public APIs that don't require user authentication

See the custom-routes example for a complete demonstration.

Edge Runtime Support

FastMCP supports edge runtimes like Cloudflare Workers, enabling deployment of MCP servers to the edge with minimal latency worldwide.

Choosing Between FastMCP and EdgeFastMCP

Note: Built-in authentication for EdgeFastMCP is planned for a future release. Both FastMCP and EdgeFastMCP use Hono internally, so there's no technical barrier—EdgeFastMCP was simply written before OAuth was added to FastMCP. PRs are welcome to add an authenticate option that accepts web Request instead of Node.js http.IncomingMessage. In the meantime, use Hono middleware:

> const app = server.getApp();
> app.use("/api/*", async (c, next) => {
>   if (c.req.header("authorization") !== "Bearer secret") {
>     return c.json({ error: "Unauthorized" }, 401);
>   }
>   await next();
> });
> 

Cloudflare Workers

To deploy FastMCP to Cloudflare Workers, use the EdgeFastMCP class from the /edge subpath:

import { EdgeFastMCP } from "fastmcp/edge";
import { z } from "zod";

const server = new EdgeFastMCP({
  name: "My Edge Server",
  version: "1.0.0",
  description: "MCP server running on Cloudflare Workers",
});

// Add tools, resources, prompts as usual
server.addTool({
  name: "greet",
  description: "Greet someone",
  parameters: z.object({
    name: z.string(),
  }),
  execute: async ({ name }) => {
    return `Hello, ${name}! Served from the edge.`;
  },
});

// Export the server as the default (required for Cloudflare Workers)
export default server;

Edge Runtime Differences

When running on edge runtimes:

• Stateless by default: Each request is handled independently
• No filesystem access: Use fetch APIs for external data
• V8 Isolates: Fast cold starts and efficient resource usage
• Global deployment: Automatic distribution to edge locations

Custom Routes on Edge

You can access the underlying Hono app to add custom HTTP routes:

const app = server.getApp();

// Add a landing page
app.get("/", (c) => c.html("<h1>Welcome to my MCP server</h1>"));

// Add REST API endpoints
app.get("/api/status", (c) => c.json({ status: "ok" }));

Deployment

Configure your wrangler.toml:

name = "my-mcp-server"
main = "src/index.ts"
compatibility_date = "2024-01-01"

Deploy with:

wrangler deploy

See the edge-cloudflare-worker example for a complete demonstration.

Stateless Mode

FastMCP supports stateless operation for HTTP streaming, where each request is handled independently without maintaining persistent sessions. This is ideal for serverless environments, load-balanced deployments, or when session state isn't required.

In stateless mode:

• No sessions are tracked on the server
• Each request creates a temporary session that's discarded after the response
• Reduced memory usage and better scalability
• Perfect for stateless deployment environments

You can enable stateless mode by adding the stateless: true option:

server.start({
  transportType: "httpStream",
  httpStream: {
    port: 8080,
    stateless: true,
  },
});

Note: Stateless mode is only available with HTTP streaming transport. Features that depend on persistent sessions (like session-specific state) will not be available in stateless mode.

You can also enable stateless mode using CLI arguments or environment variables:

```bash

Via environment variable

FASTMCP_STATELESS=true npx fastmcp dev src/server.ts

The `/ready` health check endpoint will indicate when the server is running in stateless mode:

When to use FastMCP over the official SDK?

FastMCP is built on top of the official SDK.

The official SDK provides foundational blocks for building MCPs, but leaves many implementation details to you:

• Initiating and configuring all the server components
• Handling of connections
• Handling of tools
• Handling of responses
• Handling of resources
• Adding prompts, resources, resource templates
• Embedding resources, image and audio content blocks

FastMCP eliminates this complexity by providing an opinionated framework that:

• Handles all the boilerplate automatically
• Provides simple, intuitive APIs for common tasks
• Includes built-in best practices and error handling
• Lets you focus on your MCP's core functionality

When to choose FastMCP: You want to build MCP servers quickly without dealing with low-level implementation details.

When to use the official SDK: You need maximum control or have specific architectural requirements. In this case, we encourage referencing FastMCP's implementation to avoid common pitfalls.

Via CLI argument

npx fastmcp dev src/server.ts --transport http-stream --port 8080 --stateless true

Health-check Endpoint

When you run FastMCP with the httpStream transport you can optionally expose a simple HTTP endpoint that returns a plain-text response useful for load-balancer or container orchestration liveness checks.

Enable (or customise) the endpoint via the health key in the server options:

const server = new FastMCP({
  name: "My Server",
  version: "1.0.0",
  health: {
    // Enable / disable (default: true)
    enabled: true,
    // Body returned by the endpoint (default: 'ok')
    message: "healthy",
    // Path that should respond (default: '/health')
    path: "/healthz",
    // HTTP status code to return (default: 200)
    status: 200,
  },
});

await server.start({
  transportType: "httpStream",
  httpStream: { port: 8080 },
});

Now a request to http://localhost:8080/healthz will return:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
content-type: text/plain

healthy

The endpoint is ignored when the server is started with the stdio transport.

Roots Management

FastMCP supports Roots - Feature that allows clients to provide a set of filesystem-like root locations that can be listed and dynamically updated. The Roots feature can be configured or disabled in server options:

const server = new FastMCP({
  name: "My Server",
  version: "1.0.0",
  roots: {
    // Set to false to explicitly disable roots support
    enabled: false,
    // By default, roots support is enabled (true)
  },
});

This provides the following benefits:

• Better compatibility with different clients that may not support Roots
• Reduced error logs when connecting to clients that don't implement roots capability
• More explicit control over MCP server capabilities
• Graceful degradation when roots functionality isn't available

You can listen for root changes in your server:

server.on("connect", (event) => {
  const session = event.session;

  // Access the current roots
  console.log("Initial roots:", session.roots);

  // Listen for changes to the roots
  session.on("rootsChanged", (event) => {
    console.log("Roots changed:", event.roots);
  });
});

When a client doesn't support roots or when roots functionality is explicitly disabled, these operations will gracefully handle the situation without throwing errors.