Protoc Gen MCP Skill

protoc-gen-mcp — Proto-First MCP Server Generator

Generate type-safe MCP tool bindings from annotated protobuf services for Go, Python, Java, Kotlin, and TypeScript. JavaScript projects consume compiled TypeScript output. Protobuf is the source of truth: define your service once in .proto, generate language-specific protobuf types and MCP sidecars, implement the handler interface, and serve.

When to Use

• Building a new MCP server and want type-safe, schema-validated tools
• Already have protobuf services and want to expose them as MCP tools
• Need JSON Schema validation on MCP tool inputs derived from proto definitions
• Want ProtoJSON as the wire format for MCP tool requests and responses
• Targeting Go, Python, Java, Kotlin, TypeScript, or JavaScript runtimes

Prerequisites

Install easyp — the recommended way to lint and generate:

brew install easyp-tech/tap/easyp

Or install from source:

go install github.com/easyp-tech/easyp/cmd/easyp@latest

See https://easyp.tech/docs for full documentation.

Step-by-Step Workflow

Step 1: Define Your Proto Service

Create a .proto file with service, methods, and MCP annotations using mcp/options/v1/options.proto:

syntax = "proto3";

package myapi.v1;

option go_package = "github.com/you/myproject/myapi/v1;myapiv1";

import "mcp/options/v1/options.proto";
import "google/protobuf/empty.proto";

service MyServiceAPI {
  option (mcp.options.v1.service) = {
    namespace: "myapi"
    description: "My tools exposed as MCP tools."
  };

  rpc CreateItem(CreateItemRequest) returns (CreateItemResponse) {
    option (mcp.options.v1.method) = {
      title: "Create item"
      description: "Create a new item with validation."
      annotations: { read_only_hint: false }
    };
  }

  rpc Health(google.protobuf.Empty) returns (HealthResponse) {
    option (mcp.options.v1.method) = {
      title: "Health check"
      description: "Verify the server is alive."
      annotations: { read_only_hint: true }
    };
  }
}

message CreateItemRequest {
  string name = 1 [(mcp.options.v1.field) = {
    description: "Item name."
    examples: [{ string_value: "Widget" }]
    min_length: 1
    max_length: 200
  }];

  int32 count = 2 [(mcp.options.v1.field) = {
    default_value: { integer_value: 1 }
    minimum: 1
    maximum: 1000
  }];

  repeated string tags = 3 [(mcp.options.v1.field) = {
    max_items: 20
    unique_items: true
  }];

  optional string note = 4;
}

message CreateItemResponse {
  string id = 1;
}

message HealthResponse {
  string status = 1;
}

Step 2: Choose Your Language

Each language has its own easyp.yaml configuration and handler pattern. See the examples:

Step 3: Generate Code

easyp validate-config
easyp mod download
easyp lint -p proto -r .
easyp generate -p proto -r .

Step 4: Implement the Handler and Serve

Follow the language-specific example linked above.

Key Concepts

Tool Naming

Generated tool names follow the pattern {namespace}_{MethodName}. Dots in the namespace are normalized to underscores. Override the method segment with mcp.options.v1.method.name.

Requiredness Policy

Requiredness in generated MCP JSON Schema is determined by proto3 syntax:

Fields that are not required accept explicit JSON null.

ProtoJSON Contract

MCP tool I/O uses ProtoJSON encoding. Key differences from plain JSON:

• int64/uint64 are JSON strings, not numbers
• float/double accept "NaN", "Infinity", "-Infinity" as strings
• bytes use base64 encoding
• Enums use string names (e.g., "FORECAST_MODE_DAILY")
• Timestamp → RFC 3339 string, Duration → "3.5s", FieldMask → "field1,field2"

Supported Protobuf Features

• Scalars, enums, nested messages, repeated, maps, oneof, optional
• Recursive messages via $defs/$ref
• Well-known types: Any, Empty, Timestamp, Duration, FieldMask, Struct, Value, ListValue, and all scalar wrapper types

Fail-Fast Rules

The generator rejects at generation time (not runtime):

• Proto2 syntax
• Streaming RPCs (client, server, or bidirectional)
• Unsupported google.protobuf.* types

Quick Proto Options Reference

import "mcp/options/v1/options.proto";

// Service: namespace prefix, description, icons
option (mcp.options.v1.service) = {
  namespace: "myapi"
  description: "My API tools."
};

// Method: tool name, title, description, visibility, agent hints
option (mcp.options.v1.method) = {
  name: "CustomName"
  title: "Human Title"
  description: "What this tool does."
  hidden: true
  annotations: {
    read_only_hint: true
    destructive_hint: false
    idempotent_hint: true
  }
};

// Field: description, examples, defaults, validation constraints
[(mcp.options.v1.field) = {
  description: "Field purpose."
  examples: [{ string_value: "example" }]
  default_value: { integer_value: 42 }
  pattern: "^[A-Z]"
  min_length: 1
  max_length: 255
  minimum: 0
  maximum: 100
  min_items: 1
  max_items: 50
  unique_items: true
}];

// Oneof: make a oneof group required in the MCP schema
option (mcp.options.v1.oneof) = { required: true };

// Enum: title and description
option (mcp.options.v1.enum) = { title: "Status" };

// Enum value: hide sentinel zero-value
UNSPECIFIED = 0 [(mcp.options.v1.enum_value) = { hidden: true }];

For full options details, read references/options-reference.md in this skill.

Common Patterns

Hide Internal RPCs

rpc InternalDebug(DebugRequest) returns (DebugResponse) {
  option (mcp.options.v1.method) = { hidden: true };
};

Read-Only vs Destructive Tools

// Read-only query
option (mcp.options.v1.method) = {
  annotations: { read_only_hint: true }
};

// Destructive mutation
option (mcp.options.v1.method) = {
  annotations: { destructive_hint: true }
};

Testing With MCP Inspector

# Go
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector go run ./cmd/myserver

# Python
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector python server.py

# TypeScript (build first)
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector node dist/server.js

# Java/Kotlin (after installDist)
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/inspector ./build/install/myserver/bin/myserver

Reference Files

For detailed lookup tables, read these files from this skill directory:

• references/options-reference.md — full MCP proto options with all fields and examples
• references/schema-mapping.md — proto type → JSON Schema mapping, well-known types, nullability rules