New to MCP, or new to this SDK? Start here. These pages take you from nothing to a server a real MCP host can talk to: install the SDK, build your first server, and open it in the Inspector.
Every code block on these pages is a complete, working file — copy it into
server.php next to your vendor/ directory and run it.
It is worth actually typing (or pasting) and running them: what the SDK does for you only really shows up in your own editor, where the type hints you write turn into the schema a model sees.
Once you have a server running, the rest of these docs are a reference, not a course. Every page stands on its own, so jump straight to what you need:
- What a server exposes (tools, resources, prompts) is Servers.
- Getting it in front of clients (STDIO, HTTP, an existing framework app) is Running your server.
- What is available inside the functions you register is Inside your handler.
- Building the other side, an application that uses MCP servers, is Clients.