Installation

Install FastMCP and set up your development environment

Prerequisites

Before installing FastMCP, ensure you have:

• Node.js - Version 18 or higher recommended
• Package manager - npm, yarn, or pnpm

Install FastMCP

Install the fastmcp package using your preferred package manager:

npm

npm install fastmcp

This will install FastMCP along with its core dependencies:

• @modelcontextprotocol/sdk - The official MCP SDK
• zod - For schema validation (you can also use ArkType or Valibot)
• Additional runtime dependencies for HTTP streaming and session management

Optional dependencies

Depending on your use case, you may want to install additional packages:

For OAuth/JWT authentication

If you plan to use OAuth authentication with JWT token verification:

npm

npm install jose

For Valibot schema validation

If you prefer Valibot over Zod for schema validation:

npm

npm install valibot @valibot/to-json-schema

For ArkType schema validation

If you prefer ArkType over Zod for schema validation:

npm

npm install arktype

Verify installation

Create a simple test file to verify FastMCP is installed correctly:

test.ts

import { FastMCP } from "fastmcp";

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

console.log("FastMCP installed successfully!");

Run the file:

npm

npx tsx test.ts

If you see “FastMCP installed successfully!”, you’re ready to build your first MCP server.

Using the CLI

FastMCP includes a CLI for testing and debugging servers:

# Test your server with interactive CLI
npx fastmcp dev src/server.ts

# Inspect your server with MCP Inspector (web UI)
npx fastmcp inspect src/server.ts

The CLI supports various options:

• --transport - Choose transport type (stdio, http-stream)
• --port - Set HTTP port (default: 8080)
• --stateless - Enable stateless mode for serverless deployments

Project setup

For a complete boilerplate with TypeScript configuration and best practices:

git clone https://github.com/punkpeye/fastmcp-boilerplate.git my-mcp-server
cd my-mcp-server
npm install

Next steps

Quickstart

Create your first MCP server

Core concepts

Learn about tools, resources, and prompts