MCP Resource Patterns

MCP Resource Patterns

Resources are read-only, URI-addressable data. Get them right and your server feels like a filesystem the agent can browse.

When to Use

• Deciding whether a read operation should be a tool or a resource
• Exposing hierarchical data (files, tickets, logs) to an agent
• Implementing live-updating data via subscriptions
• Designing URI schemes for a new MCP server

Tool vs Resource vs Prompt

Rule of thumb: if the agent needs to decide whether to read it, it's a tool. If the user or agent needs to attach specific known data to context, it's a resource.

Static Resources

server.resource(
  "changelog",
  "file://changelog.md",
  async () => ({
    contents: [{
      uri: "file://changelog.md",
      mimeType: "text/markdown",
      text: await fs.readFile("CHANGELOG.md", "utf-8"),
    }],
  }),
);

Templated Resources

Use URI templates (RFC 6570) for addressable collections:

server.resource(
  "issue",
  "github://repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}",
  async (uri, { owner, repo, number }) => {
    const issue = await gh.issues.get({ owner, repo, issue_number: +number });
    return {
      contents: [{
        uri: uri.href,
        mimeType: "application/json",
        text: JSON.stringify(issue.data),
      }],
    };
  },
);

The client auto-discovers the template and can fetch any matching URI.

Listing Resources

server.setRequestHandler(ListResourcesRequestSchema, async () => ({
  resources: [
    { uri: "github://repos/acme/api/issues", name: "Open issues", mimeType: "application/json" },
    { uri: "github://repos/acme/api/prs", name: "Open PRs", mimeType: "application/json" },
  ],
}));

Keep the list short — this is what the user sees in the resource picker.

Subscriptions (Live Data)

For data that changes (logs, metrics, ticket state), support subscriptions so the client re-reads on update:

server.resource(
  "live-log",
  "logs://app/{stream}",
  { subscribe: true },
  async (uri, { stream }) => ({ contents: [{ uri: uri.href, text: await tail(stream) }] }),
);

// When data changes:
logStream.on("update", (stream) => {
  server.sendResourceUpdated({ uri: `logs://app/${stream}` });
});

The client listens for notifications/resources/updated and re-fetches.

URI Scheme Design

A good scheme is:

1. Hierarchical — github://repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues/{number}, not github://issue?id=123&repo=...
2. Guessable — if the agent knows github://repos/acme/api/issues/5, it can guess .../issues/6
3. Unique per server — prefix with your server's identity (github://, not resource://)
4. MIME-tagged — always include mimeType so the client renders correctly

Avoid opaque IDs in URIs when human-readable keys exist — linear://issues/ENG-42 beats linear://issues/a3f8c21d.

Binary Resources

return {
  contents: [{
    uri: uri.href,
    mimeType: "image/png",
    blob: base64Encode(pngBytes),
  }],
};

Clients that support vision models will attach PNGs directly. Text-only clients will skip binary resources.

Pagination

MCP has no native pagination. Two conventions:

1. Sub-resources: github://issues?page=2 as a distinct URI
2. Cursor in body: return JSON with nextPageUri and let the agent fetch it

Prefer (1) — clients cache per-URI.

Common Mistakes

1. Using tools for reads — get_issue should be github://issues/{number} so the user can attach it as context
2. Using resources for actions — a resource read must not mutate state, ever
3. No mimeType — breaks rich clients and model understanding
4. Templates with too many variables — 5+ vars means you probably need a search tool instead
5. Unstable URIs — if github://issues/123 points to different data tomorrow, caching breaks

Best Practices

1. Design URIs as if they'll be bookmarked — stable, human-readable, hierarchical
2. Expose bulk endpoints as resource listings, detail endpoints as templated resources
3. Keep resource lists small (< 50 items); let templates handle the long tail
4. Use subscriptions sparingly — each one holds a connection open
5. Document your URI scheme in the server README — users browse before they call