With .NET 10 and the new MCP templates, you can create powerful servers that extend AI capabilities \u2014 and now publish them to NuGet<\/strong> for the entire .NET community to discover and use!<\/p>\n Here’s the exciting part: NuGet.org now supports hosting and consuming MCP servers built with the ModelContextProtocol<\/a> C# SDK<\/strong>. This means:<\/p>\n Search for MCP servers on NuGet.org using the Let’s build a simple MCP server that provides weather information and random numbers. You’ll see how easy it is to get started with the new .NET 10 MCP templates.<\/p>\n Before we start, make sure you have:<\/p>\n First, install the MCP Server template (version 9.7.0-preview.2.25356.2 or newer):<\/p>\n Create a new MCP server with the template:<\/p>\n The template gives you a working MCP server with a sample Let’s enhance our MCP server with a weather tool that uses environment variables for configuration. Add a new Next, update your Program.cs<\/em> to include This tool demonstrates how to:<\/p>\n Configure GitHub Copilot to use your MCP server by creating Now test it in GitHub Copilot with prompts like:<\/p>\n Update your Also update your Now for the exciting part \u2014 publishing to NuGet!<\/p>\n \ud83d\udca1 Tip<\/strong>: Want to test first? Use the NuGet test environment at int.nugettest.org<\/a> before publishing to production.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Once published, your MCP server becomes discoverable on NuGet.org:<\/p>\n The generated configuration looks like this:<\/p>\n VS Code will prompt for input values when you first use the MCP server, making configuration seamless for users.<\/p>\n With .NET 10 and NuGet as the official support for .NET MCP you’re now part of a growing ecosystem that’s transforming how AI assistants interact with the world. The combination of .NET’s robust libraries and NuGet’s package management creates endless possibilities for AI extensibility.<\/p>\n This is our first release of the .NET MCP Server project template, and we’ve started with a very simple scenario. We’d love to hear what you’re building, and what you’d like to see in future releases of the template. Let us know at https:\/\/aka.ms\/dotnet-mcp-template-survey<\/a>.<\/p>\n Here are some powerful MCP servers you could build next:<\/p>\n Each of these represents a unique opportunity to bridge AI capabilities with real business needs \u2014 and share your solutions with the entire .NET community through NuGet.<\/p>\n To go further:<\/p>\n .NET + MCP + NuGet = The future of extensible AI \u2728<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Happy building, and welcome to the growing community of MCP server creators!<\/p>\n Learn how to create a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server using .NET 10 and publish it to NuGet \u2014 making AI capabilities discoverable and reusable across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":551,"featured_media":57310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[685,7781,756],"tags":[568,58,63,8032,104],"class_list":["post-57309","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-dotnet","category-ai","category-csharp","tag-ai","tag-csharp","tag-dotnet","tag-mcp","tag-nuget"],"acf":[],"blog_post_summary":" Learn how to create a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server using .NET 10 and publish it to NuGet \u2014 making AI capabilities discoverable and reusable across the ecosystem.<\/p>\n","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57309","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/551"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57309"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57309\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\ud83d\ude80 NuGet: .NET MCP Servers Available on NuGet<\/h3>\n
\n
MCP Server<\/code> package type filter<\/a>, and you’ll see what the community is building!<\/p>\n\ud83d\udce6 Creating Your First MCP Server<\/h2>\n
Prerequisites<\/h3>\n
\n
Step 1: Install the MCP Template<\/h3>\n
dotnet new install Microsoft.Extensions.AI.Templates<\/code><\/pre>\nStep 2: Create Your MCP Server Project<\/h3>\n
dotnet new mcpserver -n SampleMcpServer\r\ncd SampleMcpServer\r\ndotnet build<\/code><\/pre>\nget_random_number<\/code> tool. But let’s make it more interesting!<\/p>\n\ud83d\udd27 Adding Custom Tools and Configuration<\/h2>\n
WeatherTools.cs<\/code> class to the Tools<\/code> directory with the following method:<\/p>\n[McpServerTool]\r\n[Description(\"Describes random weather in the provided city.\")]\r\npublic string GetCityWeather(\r\n [Description(\"Name of the city to return weather for\")] string city)\r\n{\r\n \/\/ Read the environment variable during tool execution.\r\n \/\/ Alternatively, this could be read during startup and passed via IOptions dependency injection\r\n var weather = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable(\"WEATHER_CHOICES\");\r\n if (string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(weather))\r\n {\r\n weather = \"balmy,rainy,stormy\";\r\n }\r\n\r\n var weatherChoices = weather.Split(\",\");\r\n var selectedWeatherIndex = Random.Shared.Next(0, weatherChoices.Length);\r\n\r\n return $\"The weather in {city} is {weatherChoices[selectedWeatherIndex]}.\";\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n.WithTools<WeatherTools>()<\/code> after the previous WithTools<\/code> call.<\/p>\n\n
\ud83c\udfaf Testing Your MCP Server<\/h2>\n
.vscode\/mcp.json<\/code>:<\/p>\n{\r\n \"servers\": {\r\n \"SampleMcpServer\": {\r\n \"type\": \"stdio\",\r\n \"command\": \"dotnet\",\r\n \"args\": [\r\n \"run\",\r\n \"--project\",\r\n \".\"\r\n ],\r\n \"env\": {\r\n \"WEATHER_CHOICES\": \"sunny,humid,freezing,perfect\"\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n
![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/07\/mcp-tools-demo.png\")
<\/p>\n\ud83d\udccb Configuring for NuGet Publication<\/h2>\n
.mcp\/server.json<\/code><\/a> file to declare inputs and metadata:<\/p>\n{\r\n \"description\": \"A sample MCP server with weather and random number tools\",\r\n \"name\": \"io.github.yourusername\/SampleMcpServer\", \r\n \"packages\": [\r\n {\r\n \"registry_name\": \"nuget\",\r\n \"name\": \"YourUsername.SampleMcpServer\",\r\n \"version\": \"1.0.0\",\r\n \"package_arguments\": [],\r\n \"environment_variables\": [\r\n {\r\n \"name\": \"WEATHER_CHOICES\",\r\n \"description\": \"Comma separated list of weather descriptions\",\r\n \"is_required\": true,\r\n \"is_secret\": false\r\n }\r\n ]\r\n }\r\n ],\r\n \"repository\": {\r\n \"url\": \"https:\/\/github.com\/yourusername\/SampleMcpServer\",\r\n \"source\": \"github\"\r\n },\r\n \"version_detail\": {\r\n \"version\": \"1.0.0\"\r\n }\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n.csproj<\/code> file with a unique <PackageId><\/code>:<\/p>\n<PackageId>YourUsername.SampleMcpServer<\/PackageId><\/code><\/pre>\n\ud83d\ude80 Publishing to NuGet<\/h2>\n
Step 1: Pack Your Project<\/h3>\n
dotnet pack -c Release<\/code><\/pre>\nStep 2: Publish to NuGet<\/h3>\n
dotnet nuget push bin\/Release\/*.nupkg --api-key <your-api-key> --source https:\/\/api.nuget.org\/v3\/index.json<\/code><\/pre>\n\ud83d\udd0d Discovering and Using MCP Servers<\/h2>\n
\n
mcpserver<\/code> package type<\/li>\n.vscode\/mcp.json<\/code> file<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n![\"Screenshot](\"https:\/\/devblogs.microsoft.com\/dotnet\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/10\/2025\/07\/nuget-mcp-search.png\")
<\/p>\n{\r\n \"inputs\": [\r\n {\r\n \"type\": \"promptString\",\r\n \"id\": \"weather-choices\",\r\n \"description\": \"Comma separated list of weather descriptions\",\r\n \"password\": false\r\n }\r\n ],\r\n \"servers\": {\r\n \"YourUsername.SampleMcpServer\": {\r\n \"type\": \"stdio\", \r\n \"command\": \"dnx\",\r\n \"args\": [\r\n \"YourUsername.SampleMcpServer\",\r\n \"--version\",\r\n \"1.0.0\",\r\n \"--yes\"\r\n ],\r\n \"env\": {\r\n \"WEATHER_CHOICES\": \"${input:weather-choices}\"\r\n }\r\n }\r\n }\r\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\ud83d\udd2e What’s Next?<\/h2>\n
Real-World MCP Server Ideas<\/h3>\n
\n
\n
\ud83d\udcc3 Resources<\/h3>\n
\n