Introduction to Model Context Protocol

Introduction to Model Context Protocol (MCP) teaches you how to build MCP servers and clients from scratch using Python. You'll work with MCP's three core primitives—tools, resources, and prompts—so you can connect Claude to your own data, APIs, and workflows. The course is hands-on and avoids unnecessary theory so you can get something working quickly.

It's built for product and engineering folks who need to integrate Claude with external systems: internal tools, docs, databases, or third-party services. The format is self-paced and online on Anthropic Academy (Skilljar). You'll see how to define tools Claude can call, expose resources it can read, and design prompts that tie everything together in a way that's maintainable and debuggable.

You'll leave able to design and implement a simple MCP server, connect it to a client, and reason about when MCP is the right fit versus other integration patterns. That's directly useful for PMs scoping AI features, architects evaluating protocols, and developers building the glue between Claude and your stack. A solid next step after you're comfortable with the basics of the Claude API.