MCPs: Build Your Own

A colleague already built a custom MCP at Mentimeter. Now it's your turn — understand them deeply, learn the anatomy, and build one from scratch. MCPs are the missing layer between AI and your internal tools.

Step 1 of 5 · Read the lesson

What MCP is

Model Context Protocol — an open standard for connecting AI assistants to your tools, data, and prompts. Think USB-C for AI.

Anatomy of an MCP server

Tools — actions the model can invoke (query DB, call API)
Resources — data the model can read (files, records)
Prompts — reusable templated workflows
Transport — stdio (local) or HTTP/SSE (remote)

MCP vs n8n

n8n is scheduled workflow. MCP is persistent capability. With MCP, your AI can always reach your systems on demand — no trigger needed.

~50 lines to a working MCP

The TypeScript SDK lets you spin a server with one tool in under 50 lines. Start there. Add tools as you discover what you keep copy-pasting into Claude.

Next step · 2 of 5

Prompts — Copy the prompts