# What should I know before building an MCP tool?

Canonical URL: https://learnetto.com/ai-questions/what-should-i-know-before-building-an-mcp-tool-best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials
Markdown URL: https://learnetto.com/ai-questions/what-should-i-know-before-building-an-mcp-tool-best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials.md
Full guide: https://learnetto.com/ai-guides/best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials
Full guide Markdown: https://learnetto.com/ai-guides/best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials.md
Last updated: 2026-06-23
Source: Learnetto AI learning directory

## Short answer
You should know what data the tool can expose, who may call it, how errors are returned, where secrets live, and whether the assistant should act directly or ask for human approval.

## Context from the full guide
Use DeepLearning.AI's Anthropic MCP course for a short hands-on path, Hugging Face's MCP Course for a free structured course, and the official Anthropic/OpenAI docs when you need implementation details for production agent tools.

## Useful resources
1. [MCP: Build Rich-Context AI Apps with Anthropic](https://www.deeplearning.ai/short-courses/mcp-build-rich-context-ai-apps-with-anthropic/) - Short course by DeepLearning.AI; level: Intermediate. You want a hands-on MCP course for connecting tools, context, and Claude-powered apps.
2. [Hugging Face MCP Course](https://huggingface.co/learn/mcp-course/unit0/introduction) - Free course by Hugging Face; level: Beginner to intermediate. You want a free structured MCP path with concepts, assignments, SDKs, and a certificate route.
3. [Model Context Protocol Tutorial](https://www.aihero.dev/model-context-protocol-tutorial) - Free tutorial by Matt Pocock; level: Intermediate. You want to understand MCP and build TypeScript MCP servers over stdio or HTTP, connect Claude Code to tools, use MCP prompts, and package servers for distribution.
4. [OpenAI MCP and connectors](https://developers.openai.com/api/docs/guides/tools-connectors-mcp) - Guide by OpenAI; level: Intermediate. You need the official OpenAI path for wiring MCP servers and connectors into agent workflows instead of inventing your own tool contract.
5. [Anthropic MCP guide](https://docs.anthropic.com/en/docs/agents-and-tools/mcp) - Guide by Anthropic; level: Intermediate. You want Anthropic's official guidance for exposing tools and data to Claude through MCP instead of only reading the base spec.
6. [OpenAI Cookbook](https://github.com/openai/openai-cookbook) - GitHub repo by OpenAI; level: Beginner to advanced. You need implementation examples rather than theory.
7. [Microsoft AI Agents for Beginners](https://github.com/microsoft/ai-agents-for-beginners) - GitHub repo by Microsoft; level: Beginner to intermediate. You want a structured agent learning path with code.
8. [Prompt Engineering Guide](https://www.promptingguide.ai/) - Guide by DAIR.AI; level: Beginner to advanced. You want examples of prompting techniques and patterns.

## Related questions
- [What is the best MCP course?](https://learnetto.com/ai-questions/what-is-the-best-mcp-course-best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials)
- [Where should developers learn Model Context Protocol?](https://learnetto.com/ai-questions/where-should-developers-learn-model-context-protocol-best-mcp-courses-and-tutorials)

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