MCP Server Tutorial

Welcome to the MCP Client Tutorial! The purpose of this tutorial is to show how to utilise third party MCP servers locally so that relevant tools can be set up for Copilot. This is a hands-on, practical guide suitable for developers of all experience levels.

Introduction

What is an MCP?

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It is an open protocol designed to standardize communication between clients and AI model servers. MCP enables clients to send requests (such as queries, completions, or other model operations) and receive structured responses in a consistent, interoperable way.

What's the difference between Hosts, Clients and Servers?

In the Model Context Protocol (MCP) ecosystem, there are three key components that work together:

🏠 Hosts

• The main application that orchestrates the entire MCP experience
• Examples: Claude Desktop, VS Code with Copilot, or other AI-powered applications
• Responsible for managing the connection between clients and servers
• Handles user interactions and coordinates requests/responses

👤 Clients

• Protocol clients that exist within or are used by the host application
• Act as the bridge between the host and MCP servers
• Maintain a 1:1 connection with each MCP server
• Translate requests from the host into MCP protocol messages
• Manage the communication channel (like stdio, HTTP, or WebSocket)
• Examples: Built-in MCP clients in applications like Claude Desktop or VS Code

🔧 Servers

• Provide specific tools, resources, or capabilities to the MCP ecosystem
• Run as separate processes that expose their functionality via the MCP protocol
• Can be anything from file system access, web APIs, databases, or custom business logic
• Examples: GitHub MCP server, filesystem server, weather API server, or any third party server

Prerequisites

1. Copilot License Enabled
2. IDE that supports Copilot OR Codespace access.

Labs

Filename	Description
Running Servers Locally.md	Instructions for setting up an existing server locally in your workspace.
Creating Servers.md	Creating a server.

Documentation and Bibliography

Resources used to create this tutorial.

Resource	Description
Model Context Protocol Documentation	User guide explaining Model Context Protocol.
Github Official MCP Server	GitHub Official MCP Server Repository
Managing Personal Access Token	GitHub Documentation for setting up Personal Access Tokens.
Typescript MCP Doco	Typescript SDK documentation used for creating MCP servers.
List of SDKs	Other SDKs that can be used for MCP development.