MODEL CONTEXT PROTOCOL
MCP
Learn the architecture, tooling model and production patterns behind MCP so AI applications can connect to tools, data and workflows in a standardized, extensible way.
MCP Learning Path
Follow the modules in order to understand why MCP exists, how the protocol fits into agent architecture, and how to design secure, observable MCP-based systems in practice.
Why MCP Exists
You already know how to write a tool that calls an API. MCP solves a different, real problem: what happens when every agent framework, every host application, needs that same tool, and nobody wants to write it twice.
The MCP Architecture and Mental Model
Build the complete mental map this entire course runs on — Host, Client, Server, and the three real capability types each server can expose — so every concept from here forward has a precise, correct place to belong.
Host vs Client vs Server: The Distinction That Must Be Precise
Two real, concrete examples side by side, so Host, Client, and Server never blur together again — including the honest fact that one Host genuinely runs many Clients at once.
The MCP Lifecycle and Capability Negotiation
What a Client and Server actually say to each other the moment a connection starts — and why capability negotiation exists at all, grounded in a real, honest reason: the protocol itself keeps changing.
Tools in MCP: How Servers Expose Callable Capabilities
Six progressive, real tools — from a calculator to a database-backed support ticket creator — plus discovery, argument validation, and the honest range of ways a real tool call can fail.
Resources: Exposing Context, Not Actions
A resource represents data the model can read, not something it executes. See the precise, real distinction from tools, real URI schemes, and a genuine resource template.
Prompts: Reusable, Server-Defined Templates
The third and final real capability type — predefined, reusable prompt templates a server can expose, so real, tuned prompting logic lives in one place instead of scattered across every client.
Transports: How a Client and Server Actually Communicate
stdio for local processes, Streamable HTTP for remote servers — plus a genuine, honest look at a transport that's already been deprecated, and the real-world constraints each option carries.
Building Your First Complete MCP Server
Bring Tools, Resources, Prompts, and real error handling together into one, complete, growing server — starting genuinely small, and adding exactly one real capability at a time.
Building an MCP Client
The other half of every connection. Connect to the real server you just built, discover its capabilities, call its tool, read its resource, and use its prompt — all from the client side.
Connecting Agents to MCP
Wire a real, live MCP connection directly into an agent from your LangChain, LangGraph, or LlamaIndex coursework — the moment MCP stops being an isolated protocol and becomes a genuine part of your existing agent architecture.
MCP with LangChain and LangGraph — Practical Integration
Beyond Module 11's generic translation layer — the real, idiomatic, current patterns LangChain and LangGraph each actually provide for loading MCP tools directly, with far less boilerplate.
MCP with LlamaIndex — Practical Integration
LlamaIndex's own, idiomatic pattern for loading MCP tools directly into a real FunctionAgent — plus a genuine, honest look at combining MCP tools with your LlamaIndex course's own retrieval capabilities.
Security, Permissions, and Trust in MCP
MCP is powerful precisely because it lets an LLM take real actions on real systems. This is exactly why it deserves the most serious treatment in this course — real, documented breaches, real CVEs, and the genuine safeguards that actually help.
Errors, Debugging, and Observability in MCP
A systematic, real funnel for finding exactly where a connected MCP system actually broke — connection, negotiation, discovery, schema, invocation, or the downstream service itself — plus what genuinely deserves logging.
Real-World MCP Applications
Genuine, verified companies and platforms actually using MCP — including Pinterest's own published architecture — plus an honest, current gap between adoption intent and real production security.
MCP vs. Direct API Integration, Function Calling, and Other Protocols
A balanced, honest comparison — standardization, setup complexity, and performance trade-offs — plus exactly when MCP's real, added structure isn't the right, deliberate choice.
Production MCP Architecture
Real gateways, registries, versioning, and the genuine, operational discipline a real, enterprise-scale MCP deployment actually needs — building directly on Pinterest's own published architecture.
Capstone: Building an Enterprise MCP-Powered AI Assistant
Every real piece from this course, assembled file by file — real servers, real security, real LangGraph orchestration, and genuine human-in-the-loop approval, built the way a real, production deployment actually would be.
WHY MCP?
Standardize tool access without rewriting the whole application stack
MCP reduces the one-off integration burden that appears whenever an LLM application needs to reach external data, tools and workflows. The real win is consistency: clients discover capabilities, servers expose them in a standard way, and teams can reason about trust, permissions and observability instead of custom glue code for every integration.