Project Setup

In this chapter, we’ll learn how to set up our MCP Server project from scratch. We’ll be using uv, a fast and modern Python package manager.

Creating the Project Directory

First, let’s create a new project directory:

# Create a new project directory
uv init weather
cd weather

Creating and Activating Virtual Environment

Next, we need to create a Python virtual environment. Virtual environments help us isolate project dependencies and avoid conflicts with other Python projects:

# Create virtual environment
uv venv

# Activate virtual environment
source .venv/bin/activate

You’ll know the virtual environment is activated when you see (.venv) in your command prompt.

Installing Dependencies

Now we need to install the necessary packages:

# Install MCP and HTTP client library
uv add "mcp[cli]" httpx

We’re installing two main packages:

• mcp[cli]: The core MCP server library with command-line tools
• httpx: A modern HTTP client library for making HTTP requests

Creating the Server File

Finally, let’s create a Python file that will be our MCP server:

# Create server file
touch weather.py

Verifying the Setup

To ensure everything is set up correctly, you can run these commands:

# Check Python virtual environment
which python

# Check installed packages
uv pip list

Common Issues

1. Command uv not found?

   • Make sure you have installed uv correctly
   • You can install it using pip install uv

2. Virtual environment not activating?

   • On Windows, use .venv\Scripts\activate
   • On Unix/Mac, use source .venv/bin/activate

3. Package installation failing?

   • Check your internet connection
   • Verify Python version compatibility (Python 3.8 or higher recommended)

Next Steps

Now that we have our project structure set up, in the next chapter we’ll start writing the actual MCP server code. We’ll implement basic functionality to provide user information through our server.