How to Install an MCP Server Template: 17 Ready-Made Servers

MCP server templates are the quickest way to give an AI client access to a service you already use. Instead of deciding which endpoints to expose and building each tool, you install an MCP server template in GetMCP, and it creates a server with a curated set of tools already wired to that service’s API. Add a credential, connect Claude, ChatGPT or Cursor, and you are done.

This guide is for anyone who wants a working server in minutes: store owners, marketers, developers and agencies setting up servers for clients. It lists every template that ships with GetMCP, explains the install flow step by step, and covers what to check after installing.

What are MCP server templates?

A template is a ready-made server definition for one service: a name, a description, a set of tools with their endpoints, parameters and descriptions, and the type of credential the service needs. Installing it creates a normal GetMCP server with normal tools, so every part stays editable afterwards.

Templates live on the Templates screen in the GetMCP sidebar. Each card shows the service, its category, a short description, how many tools it installs, a link to the service’s API docs, the credential it needs and an Install button. A search box and a category filter help you find one. You can also reach the screen from a server’s Import Tools menu through From Template.

The MCP server templates in GetMCP

GetMCP ships 17 templates. Three are connectors that talk to a mailbox, a database or a file server directly; the rest call a service’s REST API.

Template	Category	Tools	What you need
Mailbox (IMAP)	Email	15	Your mailbox password or app password
Database (MySQL / PostgreSQL)	Database	9	A database user; read-only is enough for the default tools
File Server (SFTP / FTP)	Storage	13	Your SFTP or FTP login, with a password or an SSH key
Open-Meteo Weather	Weather	5	Nothing; no API key required
GitHub	Developer	4	Personal Access Token
Stripe	Payments	4	Secret Key (Bearer)
Slack	Communication	3	Bot User OAuth Token
Notion	Productivity	3	Integration Token (Bearer)
SendGrid	Email	2	API Key (Bearer)
Twilio	Communication	2	Account SID + Auth Token (Basic)
HubSpot	CRM	3	Private App Token (Bearer)
WordPress	CMS	17	Application Password (Basic) and your site’s domain
WooCommerce	E-commerce	5	Consumer Key + Secret (Basic) and your store’s domain
Google Calendar	Productivity	4	OAuth 2.0 Access Token
Airtable	Productivity	3	Personal Access Token (Bearer)
Amadeus Travel	Travel	3	OAuth 2.0 Bearer Token
Mailchimp	Email	3	API Key (Basic auth)

The tools are chosen to be useful rather than complete. GitHub, for example, installs list_repositories, list_issues, create_issue and search_code, and WordPress covers posts, post meta, pages, categories, tags, media and users.

How to install an MCP server template

1. Click Install on a card. The Install dialog says that a new server named after the template will be created, and lists every tool it will add with its description.
2. Fill in the address, if asked. The WordPress and WooCommerce templates ask for a WordPress site domain or WooCommerce store domain, as a bare domain like example.com. Every tool in the template uses it. You can leave it blank and fill it in later under the server’s Settings → Connection Variables.
3. Read how to get the credential. For API templates, the dialog shows numbered steps for getting the key or token from the service, with a link to the right page. Open-Meteo shows “No credentials needed”.
4. Click Install Template. GetMCP creates the server and its tools and confirms how many were added.
5. Add the credential. For API templates, Go to Authentication Settings takes you to the server’s Authentication tab to enter it. For connectors, a button opens the server’s Mailbox, Database or File server settings, where you enter the connection details. The tools cannot run until this is done.
6. Connect a client. Use View Server for the endpoint URL and client setup instructions.

Tools that install switched off

Some tools change or delete data, so they arrive disabled and a fresh server is safe to connect before you have reviewed it. In the WordPress template, delete_post and create_user install off. In the Mailbox connector, only the five read tools install on; the ten that send, draft, mark, flag, move, delete or unsubscribe install off. The Database connector installs insert_row, update_rows, delete_rows and execute_sql off, and the File Server connector does the same for its seven write tools; both connections also start read-only. Enable what you need on the server’s Tools tab.

Use cases

Here is what people do after they install an MCP server template in GetMCP.

Let a store owner ask about orders

A shop installs the WooCommerce template with its store domain and a read-write consumer key. The owner asks Claude for today’s orders and marks one as completed.

Flow: “Mark order 1042 as completed” → update_order_status → WooCommerce REST API

Draft blog posts without the publish button

A content team installs the WordPress template. Writers ask the assistant to draft and update posts, while delete_post stays off. Removing the status parameter from create_post and update_post in the Tool Editor goes further: the model can no longer set a post’s status at all.

Flow: “Draft a post about our autumn sale” → create_post → WordPress REST API → draft

Give support a read-only look at customer data

A support team installs the Database template with a read-only database user. Agents ask how many orders Amelia Okafor placed this year, and the write tools stay disabled.

Flow: Question → run_query (read-only) → MySQL database

Grow a newsletter from conversations

A marketer installs the Mailchimp template. The assistant lists audiences, adds a subscriber such as [email protected] and checks recent campaigns.

Flow: “Add Priya to the product updates list” → add_subscriber → Mailchimp API

Set up a server per agency client

An agency installs the HubSpot template once per client, renames each server (“Northwind CRM”, “Acme CRM”) and enters that client’s private app token. Each client gets its own URL and only its own data.

Flow: Template → server per client → client token → client’s AI client

Triage an inbox with AI

An operations lead installs the Mailbox connector with a Gmail app password. The assistant lists, searches and reads messages; sending stays off until the lead turns it on.

Flow: “Summarise unread invoices” → search_emails → read_email → IMAP mailbox

Give an agent a free data source to start with

A developer testing an agent installs Open-Meteo, which needs no key. The agent looks up a city, then pulls the current weather and a daily forecast.

Flow: search_location → get_current_weather → get_daily_forecast

Tips and gotchas

• Each install creates a new server. Installing the same template twice gives you two servers, which suits one-server-per-client setups.
• Short-lived tokens expire. The Google Calendar and Amadeus templates use OAuth access tokens, and the install dialog warns that they expire. Paste a fresh token when calls start failing.
• Domains are bare. The site and store domain fields take a domain without https:// or a trailing path. A WordPress site installed in a subdirectory cannot be addressed this way; point the tools at the full path by hand in the Tool Editor.
• Everything is editable. Rename tools, rewrite descriptions, delete parameters, add a response selector or switch tools off, exactly as with tools you built yourself.
• Connector servers get new tools in place. When a release adds tools to a connector, a server built from it earlier offers to add them, without touching the tools you enabled or the credentials you entered.
• Not in the catalogue? Any JSON API becomes tools through the cURL, OpenAPI, Swagger or Postman importers.

Related features

• Connection variables: how the site and store domains reach every tool URL.
• Mailbox connector: the IMAP and SMTP template in detail.
• Database connector: MySQL and PostgreSQL as read-only tools.
• cURL import: build a tool for any API that is not in the catalogue.

FAQ

Can I change MCP server templates after installing them?

Yes. A template creates an ordinary server with ordinary tools. Edit descriptions, remove arguments, add response selectors or switch tools off in the Tool Editor, just as with a tool you built yourself.

Why do some tools install switched off?

Because they change or delete data. A freshly installed server is safe to connect before you have reviewed it, and you enable write tools one by one when you are ready.

Where do I enter the API key after installing?

On the new server’s Authentication tab for API templates, or in the Mailbox, Database or File server section of its Settings tab for connectors. The install dialog links straight to the right place.

Can I add a template’s tools to a server I already have?

The Templates screen always creates a new server. To combine services behind one address, keep each template on its own server and publish them together through the MCP Gateway.

Browse the full catalogue on the templates page, then install one and connect your AI client.