Overview

Axe Handle is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server reference implementation written in Go. It serves as a minimal yet fully functional example of how an MCP server can expose capabilities to an AI client such as Claude Desktop. By implementing the core MCP handshake, resource negotiation, and simple “hello world” responses, Axe Handle demonstrates the foundational mechanics that developers need to understand before building more sophisticated AI‑powered services.

The primary problem Axe Handle solves is the lack of readily available, language‑agnostic MCP examples. Many developers working with Claude or other MCP‑compatible assistants struggle to find a clean, production‑ready reference that illustrates how to register resources, define tools, and manage prompts. Axe Handle fills this gap by providing a lightweight, well‑documented codebase that can be forked and extended. It also acts as a sandbox for experimenting with MCP’s extensibility features without the overhead of a full‑blown application.

Key capabilities of Axe Handle include:

• MCP handshake and protocol compliance – the server listens for MCP client connections, negotiates protocol versions, and validates capability sets.
• Resource registration – Axe Handle registers a simple resource that the client can query, illustrating how to expose data or services.
• Tool definition – a minimal tool is defined and exposed, enabling the client to invoke it as part of its reasoning process.
• Prompt handling – basic prompt templates are available, showing how to supply context or constraints to the AI model.

These features are intentionally simple but fully conformant, allowing developers to see how each MCP component interacts. The server’s design follows Go best practices, making it easy to read and modify. As a result, Axe Handle becomes an ideal starting point for building domain‑specific tools, integrating with external APIs, or extending the MCP protocol itself.

In real‑world scenarios, developers can use Axe Handle as a scaffold for:

• Rapid prototyping of AI assistants that need to call external services (e.g., weather, finance APIs).
• Educational purposes, where students learn about client–server interactions in AI workflows.
• Testing MCP clients, ensuring that new features or protocol changes are compatible with existing implementations.

Because Axe Handle is open source and actively maintained, it provides a stable reference that can be updated alongside MCP’s evolving specifications. Its clear separation of concerns—handshake, resources, tools, and prompts—offers a blueprint that scales from simple “hello world” demos to complex, production‑grade AI integrations.