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Dev.to
7/21/2026
Learnings from Building an MCP Server

Learnings from Building an MCP Server

Short summary

The author shares lessons from building an MCP server for their project nuzur, focusing on a key insight: agents pay for every token, so CRUD-style tools that return large payloads are expensive and slow. Switching to granular tools (manage entities, fields, relationships separately) cut runtime from 15 minutes to under a minute and dramatically reduced token usage. Additional tips include embedding skills as prompts, serving dynamic resources, and asking agents for feedback on tool usability.

  • •Granular MCP tools beat CRUD wrappers — agents pay per token, so minimize payload size
  • •Switching from full-payload CRUD to granular tools cut runtime from 15 min to under 1 min
  • •Design MCP servers as agent-native interfaces, not API mirrors; ask agents for usability feedback

Generated with AI, which can make mistakes.

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