# Reference MCP Servers

> The canonical implementations to read before writing your own

Category: MCP servers (https://aiarabicdev.com/mcp-servers)
Canonical page: https://aiarabicdev.com/mcp-servers/reference-mcp-servers
Tags: mcp, reference, filesystem, git, fetch

The Model Context Protocol organisation maintains a set of reference servers covering filesystem, fetch, git, memory and sequential thinking. They are useful as tools and more useful as the clearest available specification of how a server should behave.

## Facts

- Licence: MIT
- Language: TypeScript and Python
- Cost: Free and open source
- Self hostable: yes
- Added: 2026-08-23
- Last checked: 2026-08-23

## Links

- Source: https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol/servers

## Read these before you build one

Every question about how to shape a tool, name an argument, describe a resource or report an error is answered somewhere in this repository. Reading the filesystem server end to end is a faster education than any amount of protocol documentation.

The filesystem server in particular shows how to constrain a server to specific directories, which is the pattern every server touching a real machine should copy.

## As tools in their own right

The fetch server gives an agent web access with a defined boundary. The git server exposes repository history in a structured form. Both are small enough to audit before you trust them, which is not true of most servers you will install.

Note that some servers here are explicitly reference material rather than production software. Read the repository's own guidance on which are archived before depending on one.

## Reach for it when

- you are writing your own MCP server and want a correct model to copy
- you want a small server you can actually audit before trusting it
- you need filesystem access scoped to specific directories

## Watch out for

- some entries are reference material rather than maintained products, so check before depending on one
- a filesystem server is only as safe as the directories you scope it to
- the fetch server can reach any URL, which is worth thinking about before enabling it

## Get started

Filesystem, scoped to one directory:

```sh
claude mcp add fs -- npx -y @modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem /path/to/project
```

---

aiarabicdev is a free directory of open source tools. No affiliate links, no sponsored placements.
New entries are announced at https://t.me/arabic_Intelligence