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MCP (Model Context Protocol)

mcpllmprotocolservers

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Full lesson · 8 learning steps Open any exercise for focused practice

Step 1 of 8 · intro card

Learn MCP (Model Context Protocol)

Tools & Agents

MCP is an open standard for connecting models to external tools and data through servers. A client like Claude discovers and calls the tools a server exposes, so integrations are decoupled from any single app and reusable across them.

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for wiring models up to external tools and data. Instead of hardcoding integrations into one app, you run MCP servers that expose capabilities.

A client — such as Claude — connects to a configured server, discovers the tools it exposes, and calls them. The config above tells the client to launch a filesystem server that can read the /data directory.

Because the protocol is standardized, an MCP server is decoupled from any single application and reusable across all of them — the same filesystem or GitHub server plugs into any MCP client.

MCP is an open standard for tools and data.

Servers expose tools; clients discover and call them.

Servers are reusable across any MCP client.

const config = {
  mcpServers: {
    filesystem: {
      command: "npx",
      args: ["@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/data"],
    },
  },
};

Read the implementation

Connect each part of the code to the concept before you type.

1. Server map

mcpServers lists the MCP servers a client connects to, keyed by name.

mcpServers: {

2. A named server

Each entry names one server; here a filesystem server exposing file tools.

filesystem: {

3. Launch command

command is how the client starts the server process — here via npx.

command: "npx",

4. Server arguments

args pass the server package and its config — the /data directory it may access.

args: ["@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem", "/data"],

5. Server package

A reusable MCP server package; the same one works across any MCP client.

@modelcontextprotocol/server-filesystem

A complete learning loop

Understand

Read the concept map and follow the code breakdown.

Reconstruct

Type the implementation, repair mistakes and work through every recall exercise.

Verify

Use the final check without hints; revisit weak concepts in short practice sessions.