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The Three Pillars: Resources, Tools, and Prompts

Model Context Protocol (MCP) Server Engineering

The Three Pillars

An MCP Server provides three primary types of interaction:

  1. Resources: Data that the LLM can read (like files, DB rows, or logs). Think of these as URLs for the AI.
  2. Tools: Functions the LLM can execute (like writing a file or sending an email). These involve side effects.
  3. Prompts: Pre-defined templates that guide the AI's behavior for specific tasks.

Assignment: Identify one use-case for a Resource and one for a Tool in a project management app.