Frequently Asked Questions

• MCP Server — exposes capabilities (tools, resources, prompts) over a defined protocol.
• MCP Client — the AI host application (e.g. Claude Desktop, an IDE plugin) that connects to servers.
• Transport — communication can happen over stdio (local process), HTTP with SSE, or WebSocket.

The AI discovers what tools a server offers, then calls them by name with structured arguments — much like a function call — and receives structured results it can reason over.

• Tools — callable functions (e.g. search the web, run a SQL query, send an email).
• Resources — readable data sources the AI can access (e.g. files, database rows, API responses).
• Prompts — reusable prompt templates the AI or user can invoke.

• MCP servers run with the permissions you grant them — a file-system server only accesses paths you configure.
• Always review what a server claims to do before connecting your AI agent to it.
• Prefer servers from known, reputable providers or open-source projects you can audit.
• The MCP spec includes an authorization framework (OAuth 2.1) for servers that need user-delegated access.

On mAIndala, community ratings and reviews help surface trustworthy servers. Look for high-rated, well-reviewed listings before connecting.

# Install via npm
npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /path/to/dir

# Or add to Claude Desktop config (~/.claude/claude_desktop_config.json)
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "filesystem": {
      "command": "npx",
      "args": ["-y", "@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/Users/you/projects"]
    }
  }
}

After restarting Claude Desktop the new tools will appear automatically in the conversation.

• stdio — the server is a local subprocess; the client communicates over stdin/stdout. Best for local tools.
• HTTP + SSE — the server runs as an HTTP service using Server-Sent Events for streaming. Best for remote or shared servers.
• Streamable HTTP — a newer, stateless variant that works over plain HTTP POST/GET without a persistent SSE connection.

# TypeScript
npm install @modelcontextprotocol/sdk

# Python
pip install mcp

Define your tools with a name, description, and JSON schema for their inputs. The SDK handles the protocol framing. Official quickstart guides are on modelcontextprotocol.io. Once your server is live, you can submit it to mAIndala so the community can discover it.

• Skills are authored by community members and published to the Skills catalog.
• Each Skill has a category, tags, and a short description so you can find the right one quickly.
• Prompts inside a Skill are gated — you must install a Skill before you can view or use its prompts.
• Authors can publish Skills as draft (private), active (public), or deprecated.

1. Browse or search the Skills catalog to find a Skill that fits your task.
2. Open the Skill detail page and click Install. This creates an install record tied to your account.
3. Once installed, the full prompt set is revealed — copy the prompts into Claude, your AI IDE, or any agent harness.
4. You can also access installed Skills programmatically via the mAIndala MCP Gateway's install_skill and get_skill tools.

After using a Skill you can leave a star rating to help the community discover the best ones.

1. Go to Create a Skill and fill in the name, category, and description.
2. Add one or more prompts — give each a label (e.g. "System prompt", "Step 1: Research") and the prompt text.
3. Save as draft to keep it private, or publish as active to make it discoverable by everyone.
4. Edit or deprecate your Skill at any time from its detail page.

• Each Agent has nodes (Skills assigned a role in the workflow) and routes (edges between nodes with conditions like always, on_success, or on_failure).
• One node is marked as the entry point — where execution begins.
• Agents are deployed, not installed — deploying exports a full JSON bundle with all prompts and a framework hint section for Claude, CrewAI, or LangGraph.

1. Find an Agent in the Agents catalog and open its detail page.
2. Click Deploy. This downloads a JSON export bundle containing the full Agent definition, all constituent Skill prompts, and frameworkHints for your preferred orchestration framework.
3. Use the bundle to set up the agent in Claude Projects, CrewAI, LangGraph, or any compatible harness — the hints section shows you exactly how to wire it up.

AI agents can also deploy Agents programmatically using the mAIndala MCP Gateway's deploy_persona tool.

• Skill — a single capability. One task, one prompt set. Used directly by a human or an agent to accomplish a specific thing.
• Agent — a workflow. Multiple Skills stitched together with routing logic to achieve a broader goal automatically.

A Skill is a building block; an Agent is the finished assembly. You can think of Skills as functions and Agents as programs.

A well-designed Agent might use an MCP server for data retrieval at one node and a Skill's prompt to interpret and format the results at the next. Together they form a complete agentic system: MCP handles the "hands", Skills and Agents handle the "brain".

• Public groups are discoverable in the Groups directory and open to anyone who wants to join.
• Private groups are invite-only — members join via an email invite link sent by an admin.
• Groups are useful for enterprises curating a vetted tool list, developer communities around a theme, or teams that want a focused, noise-free catalog.

To create: Any signed-in user can go to Create a Group, choose a name and slug, set visibility (public or private), and add a description. You become the group admin automatically.

To join a public group: Browse the Groups directory, find a group, and click Join. No approval required for public groups.

To join a private group: An admin must invite you by email. Click the link in the invitation email to accept and become a member.

• The Browse page filters to show only that group's curated service list instead of the full public catalog.
• Searches and category filters operate within the curated list.
• Group admins manage the service list and members from the group admin panel.
• You can switch back to the full catalog at any time by clearing your active group from the Groups menu.

You can be a member of multiple groups and switch between them freely.

Group admins generate and revoke API keys from the API Keys tab on the group admin page (/groups/[slug]/admin). Each key shows its prefix and last-used timestamp. Use Group API keys when building agents that should only ever see your team's approved tools.

• Browse the mAIndala catalog — 2,250+ community-rated MCP servers.
• modelcontextprotocol.io — official specification, SDKs, and documentation.
• github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers — Anthropic's reference server implementations.
• awesome-mcp-servers — curated community list on GitHub.