Skip to content

6.4 MCP and Tool Ecosystems

Role at Stage 6: AI Agents

Use Model Context Protocol concepts to expose tools and resources with clear boundaries. This part is one capability inside the stage. It should leave behind an artifact, measurements, and a short explanation of failure modes.

Explanation

This part has 4 sub-parts because the topic needs that many learning units to feel natural. Some stages have more parts and some have fewer; the structure follows the topic, not a fixed template.

Part Diagram

%%{init: {"flowchart": {"htmlLabels": true, "nodeSpacing": 80, "rankSpacing": 110}, "themeVariables": {"fontSize": "18px"}} }%%
flowchart LR
  P["<b>6.4</b><br/>MCP and Tool<br/>Ecosystems"]
  P --> S1["<b>6.4.1</b><br/>MCP Hosts Clients and<br/>Servers"]
  P --> S2["<b>6.4.2</b><br/>Resources Tools and<br/>Prompts"]
  P --> S3["<b>6.4.3</b><br/>Local vs Remote MCP"]
  P --> S4["<b>6.4.4</b><br/>Authentication and<br/>Exposure Boundaries"]
  P --> E["<b>Exam</b><br/>Part practice"]

Sub-Parts

Sub-part folder What it explains
6.4.1 MCP Hosts Clients and Servers MCP Hosts Clients and Servers is the working skill inside MCP and Tool Ecosystems that helps you build the stage artifact, A tool-using agent with typed tools, memory, traces, task evals, prompt-injection tests, and an architecture README, while collecting enough evidence to trust the result.
6.4.2 Resources Tools and Prompts Resources Tools and Prompts is the working skill inside MCP and Tool Ecosystems that helps you build the stage artifact, A tool-using agent with typed tools, memory, traces, task evals, prompt-injection tests, and an architecture README, while collecting enough evidence to trust the result.
6.4.3 Local vs Remote MCP Local vs Remote MCP is the working skill inside MCP and Tool Ecosystems that helps you build the stage artifact, A tool-using agent with typed tools, memory, traces, task evals, prompt-injection tests, and an architecture README, while collecting enough evidence to trust the result.
6.4.4 Authentication and Exposure Boundaries Authentication and Exposure Boundaries is the working skill inside MCP and Tool Ecosystems that helps you build the stage artifact, A tool-using agent with typed tools, memory, traces, task evals, prompt-injection tests, and an architecture README, while collecting enough evidence to trust the result.

What a Person Who Masters This Part Can Do

  • Explain how MCP and Tool Ecosystems supports a tool-using agent with typed tools, memory, traces, task evals, prompt-injection tests, and an architecture readme..
  • Build and inspect this artifact: Create one MCP-style tool server or documented equivalent.
  • Measure progress with: Track exposed resources, permissions, auth, and host integration.
  • Debug at least one failure mode before moving to the next part.

Build and Measure

Build: Create one MCP-style tool server or documented equivalent.

Measure: Track exposed resources, permissions, auth, and host integration.

Tests

Take one 30-question exam after studying this part. It opens in a new browser tab so the study page stays available.

Open Part Exam

Back to Stage

Return to Stage 6: AI Agents.