Master the Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The most exciting thing in software right now? MCP.

Instead of clicking through pages and menus and forms, users are beginning to engage with their favorite applications through natural language, voice, and AI agents.

But for AI to actually do anything useful, it needs more than just a chat box. It needs a structured way to understand and interact with your app's capabilities and your users’ data.

That's exactly what MCP provides: a standardized interface for building intelligent software. MCP defines how apps expose tools, resources, and context in a way that large language models (LLMs) and other agents can reliably call and consume.

My expert opinion is that MCP is not just a protocol. It's the new architecture of interaction.

I know what you're thinking: Isn't this just the latest round of hype? Why can’t I just wrap my existing APIs? Are people really using MCP in real-world scenarios?

Is it even possible to work on the bleeding edge…without cutting myself?

Here's 5 reasons why MCP is worth your time right now

1. MCP is useful now. Despite being new, it's already providing real value for real people. I'm using it personally to automate my workflows, and every day more enterprise software teams are jumping at the opportunity to make their agents more capable.

2. Yes, there's hype. But there's also substance. And progress is rapidly getting more substantial. The ecosystem is growing fast, with quality servers popping up every week. And you can be a part of it.

3. MCP UI brings the best of both worlds. Natural language interaction plus familiar graphical interfaces when needed. And easy, often automatic switching between them!

4. When you do MCP right, it creates a stellar user experience. When you do MCP right, it's not a bolt-on — although some have tried. A good MCP implementation rethinks how apps expose functionality in a world where LLMs are the new client.

5. MCP is still in its early days, but adoption is rapidly expanding. Developers who understand it now will be the ones shaping the future interaction layer of the web.

Now's your chance to learn it while the ink is still drying and develop valuable, future-forward job skills that few developers will have.

This was a very informative overview of an emerging new technology that doesn't have many good tutorials or courses out there yet. The syllabus was well thought out and paced appropriately, and each building block of MCP was covered even if it was not ready to be used in the real world yet. I appreciated you answering all our questions... Thanks so much for your enthusiasm and for sharing all this knowledge with us.

Myles, Software Engineer at O'Connor Industries

Learn to design and ship a well-designed MCP server with my brand-new cohort workshop

Starting September 22nd 2025, I'm running a two-week intensive cohort learning experience covering four essential MCP workshops:

• MCP Fundamentals - Core architecture, principles, and building blocks
• Advanced MCP Features - Real-world applications and advanced techniques
• Authorization - Secure, authenticated AI interaction across networks with OAuth 2.1
• User Interface (MCP-UI) - Rich interactive experiences beyond text

That's 4 workshops for less than the cost of 2!

You can tackle MCP with the same pragmatic principles you love from my Epic React and Epic Web courses. We'll focus on:

• Building incrementally, one concept at a time
• Testing and validating as we go
• Following proven software development principles like “make it work, make it right, make it fast”, “optimize for the unknown”, “pragmatism is more important than 'purity'” and others
• In a guided learning environment using the same tools you're already familiar with

And if you've been busy building user interfaces for the past few years, you'll be able to use your existing skills to build MCP servers and excellent integrations.

You'll learn:

• How to create servers that leverage MCP's most useful features
• The vocabulary to navigate the new MCP ecosystem
• How to add UI for the best user experience
• Authentication and user-specific data access
• The latest features and techniques for building production-ready servers

And a lot more.

Thank you so much for creating this workshop. It was very helpful for me to dive into this world of MCP, and it was surprisingly not too scary as I was able to reuse a lot of the skills (that you've helped me learn in the past).

Raphael Rafatpanah, Developer

Here's why you'll love my brand new course format

You're busy. Live workshops can be strenuous and difficult to attend, especially with timezone constraints.

The documentation is… insufficient. It's out of date, conflicting, and constantly shifting. You don't have time to cherry-pick the good parts and figure out what's missing. You've got work to do.

Learning alone is hard. It's easy to get distracted by work and life, and tough to get back on track. And wrestling with a brand new technology in a vacuum can be lonely and frustrating.

My new cohort workshop solves these problems:

• New lessons and challenges will drop 4 days a week across 2 weeks, to keep the excitement level up without burning out
• Bonus challenges deepen learning for you over-achievers
• Learn together in the exclusive cohort Discord, where everyone's working on the same exercises & challenges at the same time
• Attend live office hours with me personally (each live session runs twice, to accommodate global time zones!)

The near-daily lesson drops and live events give you that "put it on your calendar" energy you need to actually make time to learn, and the lively Discord provides a motivating sense of community. Most days you'll spend ~1-2 hours a day on lessons and challenges, with scheduled days off to allow room for real life.

Bottom line: this brand new curriculum is deep enough for us to have you building a real working MCP server, but tightly edited and rolled out on a schedule that allows time to relax and let your brain rest, ensuring you'll retain what you learn.

We didn't just talk about MCP, we stood up a project in a way I have never experienced before. Kent sets a high bar for any other EDU training platforms. The user experience is magical - being able to click a button and have your local IDE setup and ready to go for the exercise at hand was unbelievably smooth.

Mat Silva, Software Engineer at AKA Identity

What You'll Learn

How You'll Learn

You'll be working on your own machine, in your familiar editor, with your own AI assistants that you use every day. The Epic Workshop App will facilitate everything to help you stay on track and not lose your place. The Epic Workshop App keeps your workspace updated to the exercise you're working on, meaning you won't fall behind or miss a step (in fact, you can go forward and backword in time with the click of a button).

And in addition to the Discord/Office Hours support you get, you'll also have access to the official Epic Workshop MCP Server (pretty meta, I know)! This means you can wire up your editor's AI assistant and ask it questions about the workshop (or even have it quiz you on the material).

People are regularly and pleasantly surprised by how much they enjoy this learning environment. I think you'll love it too.

Pricing + Special Offers

Early Bird Pricing: $525 (regular price $750)

What's included:

• Four complete MCP workshops with tightly edited videos and carefully crafted exercises
• Two weeks of live cohort experience working through new material (almost) every day
• Lifetime access to all videos and materials in your cohort
• An active learning community on Discord
• Regular live Q&A sessions with Kent (2x days per week, with accommodations for different timezones)
• Completion certificates
• 30-day money-back guarantee

Team discounts available for companies sending multiple developers.

Ready to architect the future?

Let's build a world where apps don't just wait for clicks. They understand goals, act with context, and collaborate with every service your users depend on.

Join the September 2025 MCP Cohort and be among the first developers to master this transformative technology.

MCP is the most exciting thing I've worked on in years. It's not just about AI—it's about fundamentally changing how effectively software can solve users' problems

Kent C. Dodds

Questions? I'm here to help. Reach out with any questions about the workshop, MCP, or whether this is the right fit for you.