What Are MCPs?

Claude Code is powerful by default MCPs make it capable of reaching the entire internet

Claude Code is powerful. But by default it only knows what is in its training data and what is in the files on your computer.

It cannot go to a website and read what is there right now. It cannot check your GitHub repositories. It cannot search the web for the latest information. It cannot look up a company's contact page or read a competitor's pricing.

MCPs change all of this.

MCP in Plain English

MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. Forget the technical name. Here is what it means for you.

An MCP is a plugin that gives Claude Code access to a new capability it did not have before. Each MCP connects Claude to one specific thing such as the web, a database, GitHub, email, your calendar, or an API, and lets Claude read from it, write to it, and use it as part of its work.

Without MCPs Claude builds things using only what you give it in the chat. With MCPs Claude builds things AND can go out and get information, check sources, and use external tools on its own.

Concrete Examples

Web fetch MCP lets Claude visit any URL and read the full content of the page. You can say "Research the pricing page of these five competitors" and Claude will go there, read each one, and come back with a structured comparison. You do not have to copy-paste anything.

Brave Search MCP lets Claude run real-time web searches. Ask it to find the latest information on a topic and it searches the actual internet and not just its training data from months ago.

GitHub MCP lets Claude read and write to your GitHub repositories directly. Push code, read issues, and create pull requests all from within a Claude Code session.

Filesystem MCP lets Claude work with files anywhere on your computer and not just the current project folder. This enables complex automations that span multiple projects and directories.

How MCPs Are Different From Skills

A skill adds expert knowledge and rules. An MCP adds access to external tools or services.

A skill is a .md markdown file. An MCP is software that runs on your computer.

An example of a skill is frontend design expertise. An example of an MCP is real-time web search.

A skill is activated in your prompt. An MCP runs automatically when relevant.

A skill requires just copying the file. An MCP requires installation and configuration.

Skills make Claude smarter. MCPs make Claude more capable. You can have both active at once and you usually will. A skill tells Claude how to write great copy while an MCP lets Claude search competitor websites to inform what that copy says.

The MCP Ecosystem

MCPs are maintained by different sources.

Anthropic's official MCPs include web fetch, filesystem, and others. They are free and stable.

Third-party MCPs include GitHub, Brave Search, Puppeteer, databases, and email tools. Most are open source.

Custom MCPs are built by advanced users to connect private systems and are beyond the scope of this course.

The MCP ecosystem is growing fast. New servers are published every week. The official registry is at modelcontextprotocol.io where you can browse everything available.

What You Actually Need as a Builder

For most of the projects in this course these three MCPs cover 90% of use cases.

Fetch lets you visit any URL and read its content. It is free and requires no API key. Brave Search gives you real-time web search with a free tier of 2,000 searches per month and requires a free API key. GitHub connects your repositories and is free, requiring a GitHub account which you may already have for Netlify deployment.

The next lessons walk you through setting these up.

Your Action Right Now

Nothing to install yet. Just confirm your understanding.

A skill makes Claude better at a task. An MCP gives Claude access to something it could not reach before. Both are files or programs you add once and use forever.

Move to the next lesson.