About discover-mcp
discover-mcp is a gateway skill for MCP server development guidance. It activates for server, tool, transport, testing, and deployment topics, and directs users to fundamentals, tool-design, and testing skills.
Key features
- 01Activates for MCP development topics
- 02Links to an MCP skills index
- 03Provides three specialized skill references
- 04Describes common skill sequences
- 05Supports progressive loading
Use cases
- 01Starting development of an MCP server
- 02Designing tools for an existing server
- 03Testing or debugging MCP behavior
MCP support
This skill points to guidance for building and testing MCP servers, including transports, tools, resources, and prompts. It does not itself expose MCP tools or resources.
Install
Copy the command and run it in a terminal.
npx skills add https:/ / github.com/ rand/ cc-polymath --skill discover-mcpAfter installing, type/discover-mcpin Claude Code to confirm it loaded.
Details
From the project READMEMCP Skills Discovery
Provides automatic access to comprehensive MCP server development, tool design, and testing skills.
When This Skill Activates
This skill auto-activates when you're working with:
- Building MCP servers (TypeScript or Python)
- Designing MCP tools, resources, or prompts
- Choosing MCP transports (stdio, SSE, Streamable HTTP)
- Implementing JSON-RPC 2.0 over MCP
- Testing MCP servers with Inspector or automated tests
- Debugging MCP protocol or transport issues
- Publishing or deploying MCP servers
Available Skills
Quick Reference
The MCP category contains 3 specialized skills:
- mcp-server-fundamentals - Architecture, transports, tools/resources/prompts primitives, SDK setup
- mcp-tool-design - Tool naming, schemas, error handling, annotations, progressive disclosure
- mcp-testing - Inspector, unit tests, integration tests, transport debugging, CI/CD
Load Full Category Details
For complete descriptions and workflows:
Read ../mcp/INDEX.md
This loads the full MCP category index with:
- Detailed skill descriptions
- Usage triggers for each skill
- Common workflow combinations
- Cross-references to related skills
Load Specific Skills
Load individual skills as needed:
Server architecture and setup
Read ../mcp/mcp-server-fundamentals.md
Tool design and best practices
Read ../mcp/mcp-tool-design.md
Testing and debugging
Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md
Common Workflows
New MCP Server
Sequence: Fundamentals -> Tool Design -> Testing
Read ../mcp/mcp-server-fundamentals.md # Architecture, transport, SDK Read ../mcp/mcp-tool-design.md # Design tool interfaces Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md # Test with Inspector, CI
Adding Tools to Existing Server
Sequence: Tool Design -> Testing
Read ../mcp/mcp-tool-design.md # Naming, schemas, errors Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md # Test new tools
Debugging MCP Issues
Sequence: Testing -> Fundamentals
Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md # Inspector, transport debugging Read ../mcp/mcp-server-fundamentals.md # Lifecycle, capabilities
Integration with Other Skills
MCP skills commonly combine with:
API skills (discover-api):
- MCP servers wrapping REST or GraphQL APIs
- Authentication for MCP tool backends
Testing skills (discover-testing):
- Comprehensive test strategies
- Contract testing patterns
Infrastructure skills (discover-infra, discover-cloud):
- Deploying MCP servers
- Scaling HTTP transports
Progressive Loading
This gateway skill (~170 lines, ~1.5K tokens) enables progressive loading:
- Level 1: Gateway loads automatically (you're here now)
- Level 2: Load category INDEX.md (~2.5K tokens) for full overview
- Level 3: Load specific skills (~2-3K tokens each) as needed
Total context: 1.5K + 2.5K + skill(s) = 4-8K tokens vs 12K+ for everything.
Quick Start Examples
"Build an MCP server": Read ../mcp/mcp-server-fundamentals.md
"Design MCP tools for my API": Read ../mcp/mcp-tool-design.md
"Test my MCP server": Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md
"Debug why my MCP tool isn't showing up": Read ../mcp/mcp-testing.md
Next Steps: Run Read ../mcp/INDEX.md to see full category details, or load specific skills using the commands above.