A comprehensive step-by-step guide to building a production-ready MCP (Model Context Protocol) server in Go using the mcp-go SDK. Covers project setup, tool registration with JSON schemas, resource and prompt template definitions, a real-world GitHub issue lookup tool with rate-limit handling, structured logging to stderr, input validation with allowlist patterns, graceful shutdown via context cancellation, and switching between stdio and HTTP/SSE transports. Includes a complete copy-paste main.go and a production readiness checklist.
Table of contents
How to Build an MCP Server in GoTable of ContentsWhat Is the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Why Does It Matter?Why Build Your MCP Server in Go?Prerequisites and Project SetupBuilding Your First MCP Server with stdio TransportAdding Resources and PromptsBuilding a Real-World Tool: GitHub Issue LookupProduction HardeningSwitching to HTTP/SSE Transport for Remote DeploymentProduction-Ready Implementation ChecklistComplete Server CodeWrapping Up and Next Steps344 Impressions