AIGuiders dotnet MCP templates

AIGuiders.DotnetMcp.Templates

Template pack for dotnet new to bootstrap MCP servers on .NET.

Release notes: see docs/release.md.

Why the template looks “heavy”

The mcp template is intentionally aligned with our MCP repos (for example hybrid-codebase-index, agent-notes-mcp, git-mcp):

• ToolCatalog is the source of truth: tool names + descriptions + input schemas live in code.
• mcp-tools.manifest.json is generated from ToolCatalog.Build() using tools/ExportMcpManifest.
  • This keeps the manifest and the docs consistent with the runtime contract.
• docs/MCP-TOOLS.md is generated from the same catalog, so humans see the same descriptions the host sees.
• Tests validate consistency: *.Tests compares manifest tool names/descriptions against ToolCatalog.

Why tools/McpToolManifest exists (instead of “just DTOs”)

In the mcp template we include a tiny library tools/McpToolManifest that defines:

• the canonical JSON shape (schema_version, mcp_id, title, tools[])
• a reader/validator (McpToolManifestReader)
• a name comparer (ToolCatalogNameComparer)

This gives a stable, reusable contract in every generated MCP repo and matches how the rest of our MCP repos are automated.

Why there are two readmes

• README-NUGET.md is the public package readme shown on nuget.org (install + usage only).
• README.md is the repo readme (may include maintainer notes and links to docs/).

Install

dotnet new install AIGuiders.DotnetMcp.Templates

Create a new MCP server (full pattern)

dotnet new mcp -n MyCompany.MyMcp --mcp-id my-mcp

Create a minimal MCP server

dotnet new mcp-min -n MyCompany.MyMcp --mcp-id my-mcp

Uninstall

dotnet new uninstall AIGuiders.DotnetMcp.Templates