Step-by-Step Guide: Just minutes! Build an MCP Server and Client interacting with Ollama in C#

mkdir McpServer

cd McpServer

dotnet new console

dotnet add package ModelContextProtocol --prerelease

dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting

using Microsoft.Extensions.DependencyInjection;

using Microsoft.Extensions.Hosting;

using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

using ModelContextProtocol.Server;

using System.ComponentModel;

using System.IO;



var builder = Host.CreateApplicationBuilder(args);



// Configure logging

builder.Logging.AddConsole(consoleLogOptions =>

{

    consoleLogOptions.LogToStandardErrorThreshold = LogLevel.Trace;

});



// Register the MCP Server

builder.Services

    .AddMcpServer()

    .WithStdioServerTransport()

    .WithToolsFromAssembly();



await builder.Build().RunAsync();



[McpServerToolType]

public static class FileRequestTool

{

    // Tool: Get local file content

    [McpServerTool, Description("Get local file's content")]

    public static async Task<string> GetFileContent(

        [Description("Path to the file")] string filePath)

    {

        if (!File.Exists(filePath))

        {

            return $"Error: File not found at {filePath}";

        }



        try

        {

            string fileContent = await File.ReadAllTextAsync(filePath);

            return fileContent;

        }

        catch (Exception ex)

        {

            return $"Error processing file: {ex.Message}";

        }

    }

}

mkdir McpClientApp

cd McpClientApp

dotnet new console

dotnet add package ModelContextProtocol --prerelease

dotnet add package Microsoft.Extensions.Configuration.Json

dotnet add package Microsoft.SemanticKernel

dotnet add package Microsoft.SemanticKernel.Connectors.OpenAI

using Microsoft.SemanticKernel;

using Microsoft.SemanticKernel.ChatCompletion;

using Microsoft.SemanticKernel.Connectors.OpenAI;

using ModelContextProtocol.Client;



// Configure Semantic Kernel

var builder = Kernel.CreateBuilder();

builder.Services.AddOpenAIChatCompletion(

    modelId: "llama3.2",

    apiKey: null, // No API key needed for Ollama

    endpoint: new Uri("http://localhost:11434/v1") // Ollama server endpoint

);

var kernel = builder.Build();



// Set up MCP Client

await using IMcpClient mcpClient = await McpClientFactory.CreateAsync(

    new StdioClientTransport(new()

    {

        Command = "dotnet run",

        Arguments = ["--project", "C:\\Users\\User\\source\\repos\\McpServer\\McpServer.csproj"],

        Name = "McpServer",

    }));



// Retrieve and load tools from the server

IList<McpClientTool> tools = await mcpClient.ListToolsAsync().ConfigureAwait(false);



// List all available tools from the MCP server

Console.WriteLine("\n\nAvailable MCP Tools:");

foreach (var tool in tools)

{

    Console.WriteLine($"{tool.Name}: {tool.Description}");

}



// Register MCP tools with Semantic Kernel

#pragma warning disable SKEXP0001 // Suppress diagnostics for experimental features

kernel.Plugins.AddFromFunctions("McpTools", tools.Select(t => t.AsKernelFunction()));

#pragma warning restore SKEXP0001



// Chat loop

Console.WriteLine("Chat with the AI. Type 'exit' to stop.");

var history = new ChatHistory();

history.AddSystemMessage("You are an assistant that can call MCP tools to process user queries.");



// Get chat completion service

var chatCompletionService = kernel.GetRequiredService<IChatCompletionService>();



while (true)

{

    Console.Write("User > ");

    var input = Console.ReadLine();

    if (input?.Trim().ToLower() == "exit") break;



    history.AddUserMessage(input);



    // Enable auto function calling

    OpenAIPromptExecutionSettings openAIPromptExecutionSettings = new()

    {

        ToolCallBehavior = ToolCallBehavior.AutoInvokeKernelFunctions

    };



    // Get the response from the AI

    var result = await chatCompletionService.GetChatMessageContentAsync(

        history,

        executionSettings: openAIPromptExecutionSettings,

        kernel: kernel);



    Console.WriteLine($"Assistant > {result.Content}");

    history.AddMessage(result.Role, result.Content ?? string.Empty);

}

ollama run llama3.2

cd McpClientApp

dotnet run