Learning roadmap
MCP & Tool Protocols
Give your agent hands it can trust: tool schemas that validate, an MCP server any client can discover, security boundaries that respect privilege, and compositions that turn single tools into workflows.
4 stages~8 h
That leaves 4 stages, ~8 hours of focused work. You can clear it in any order, but the stages compound — try them top-to-bottom your first time.
- You'll pick up:
json schema args, server side validation, idempotency keys, widget shaped results, error messages for models
Practice quizzesLab taskBuild a "tool contract bench": define a tool schema, fire 10 model attempts against it, show validation outcomes per attempt, and a retry-timeline proving the idempotency key made the duplicate harmless.
Build it in the LabCheckpointOne of your tools survives 10/10 model calls with valid arguments — and a duplicate call changes nothing.
What you'll be able to do
- Design tool schemas an LLM calls correctly on the first try — validated, idempotent, and safe to retry.
- Stand up an MCP server that Claude Desktop, Cursor, or any MCP client discovers and uses.
- Draw the privilege boundary of your toolset before an attacker or a confused model does.
- Compose three tools into one workflow with a trace you can actually debug.
Or try a related path