1. Discover the toolbox
List the available contracts before making a call.
No tools discovered in this practice session.
2. Propose a call
Changing the proposal clears approval. Read tools do not require it in this lab.
MCP FOR BEGINNERS / INTERACTIVE FIELD GUIDE
Give AI a tool.
Understand
every step.
Go beyond the acronym. Discover a tool, build its arguments and follow a request all the way to a useful result.
YOU + THE AI APPLICATIONHostChooses what to attempt
↓ client carries the request
THE CAPABILITY PROVIDERMCP serverValidates, authorizes and responds
↓ a narrow, explicit operation
YOUR SYSTEMTools & dataActual information. Actual boundaries.
MAKE THE INVISIBLE VISIBLE
From a tool name to a result.
3. Inspect what happened
Discover the tools, then make your first call.
- Waiting for a call.
Teaching exchange
No exchange yet.
Fictional task store
The store resets on reload. Your lesson and challenge progress is saved separately.
BUILD A WORKING MENTAL MODEL
Twelve short steps. One clear connection.
LEARN BY REPAIRING
Six challenges to prove it.
Each challenge is checked against a real interaction in this simulator. Progress survives reload; the task store does not.
TAKE THE IDEA INTO YOUR OWN WORK
Design a tool worth calling.
Build a one-argument contract and export a worksheet. This is a design exercise, not an executable MCP server.
Your contract preview
Before implementation
- Decide who can call it and which records they may access.
- Define success, missing-record and dependency-failure behavior.
- Separate validation from permission checks.
- Choose an SDK and version supported by the intended host.
- Test untrusted result text and avoid exposing credentials.