MCP Fundamentals 🧱

Meet users in the AI apps they already use

Your users are increasingly getting accustomed to using natural language to communicate with AI apps like ChatGPT, Claude Desktop, and Cursor. With MCP, you can build AI-powered apps that integrate with these apps, allowing you to meet users where they are.

---

---

Prerequisites

• JavaScript/TypeScript experience
• Node.js experience

Pre-workshop Resources

Here are some resources you can read before taking the workshop to get you up to speed on some of the tools and concepts we'll be covering:

• Letting AI Interface with Your App with MCPs
• MCP Introduction
• Your AI Assistant Instructor: The EpicShop MCP Server
• How to Debug Your MCP Server
• MCP Tool Design: From APIs to AI-First Interfaces

System Requirements

• git v2.18 or greater
• NodeJS v22.13.0 or greater
• npm v8.16.0 or greater

All of these must be available in your PATH. To verify things are set up properly, you can run this:

git --version
node --version
npm --version

If you have trouble with any of these, learn more about the PATH environment variable and how to fix it here for windows or mac/linux.

Setup

Use the Epic Workshop CLI to get this setup:

npx --yes epicshop@latest add mcp-fundamentals

To make sure your environment is running correctly, please follow these additional steps:

1. Run the workshop app with npm start
2. Open the last exercise solution at /exercise/05/02/solution?preview=solution
3. Click the "Start App" button
4. Click the "Connect" button

You'll know it's working if you see a green dot and the word "Connected" in the MCP Inspector app.

If you experience errors during this setup process, please open an issue with as many details as you can offer.

The Workshop App

Learn all about the workshop app on the Epic Web Getting Started Guide.