Learn Model Context Protocol with TypeScript: Build agentic systems in TypeScript with the new standard for AI capabilities

Christoffer Noring

S$34.29 ~~S$48.99~~

eBook Nov 2025 320 pages 1st Edition

Christoffer Noring

S$34.29 ~~S$48.99~~

eBook Nov 2025 320 pages 1st Edition

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Learn Model Context Protocol with TypeScript

Explaining the Model Context Protocol

The MCP consists of many parts. In short, JavaScript Object Notation-Remote Procedure Call (JSON-RPC) messages are exchanged between the client and the server. A JSON-RPC message is a message following the JSON-RPC specification, which means it has the jsonrpc, id, method, and params fields, and the data type is JSON. An example could look like so:

{
  "jsonrpc": "2.0",
  "id": 1,
  "method": "doSomething",
  "params": {
    "foo": "bar"
  }
}

To make it easier to understand, and more interesting, this chapter attempts to explain the protocol by taking you through an implementation of it. For that reason, we hope this chapter is an easier read (not just architecture diagrams) and a glimpse into how things work. If you’re keen on getting started with building MCP servers, then jump straight to Chapter 3, but if you want to understand the MCP protocol...

Transports in MCP

The idea with transports in MCP is that they define how clients and servers communicate. MCP is transport agnostic, meaning it can work over HTTP, WebSockets, STDIO, and more. The transport is the layer that handles the underlying message exchange. It exchanges messages of type JSON-RPC.

MCP has a set of transports it supports from STDIO (for servers running locally) to streamable transports such as WebSockets and Server-Sent-Events (SSEs), and finally request/response transports such as HTTP.

Each transport uses the same type of interface, looking like so:

interface Transport {
  // Start processing messages
  start(): Promise<void>;
  // Send a JSON-RPC message
  send(message: JSONRPCMessage): Promise<void>;
  // Close the connection
  close(): Promise<void>;
  // Callbacks
  onclose?: () => void;
  onerror?: (error: Error) => void;
  onmessage?: (message: JSONRPCMessage) => void;
}

The idea with such an interface is...

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Key benefits

The only resource you'll need to build, test, and deploy MCP servers and clients
Take a modern approach toward building, testing, and securing distributed agentic AI apps
Get clear, professional guidance on developing for both LLM and non-LLM clients
Purchase of the print or Kindle book includes a free PDF eBook

Description

Learn Model Context Protocol with TypeScript introduces developers, architects, and AI practitioners to the transformative capabilities of Model Context Protocol (MCP), an emerging protocol designed to standardize, distribute, and scale AI-driven applications. Through the lens of a practical project, the book tackles the modern challenges of resource management, client-server interaction, and deployment at scale. Drawing from Christoffer's expertise as a published author and tutor at the University of Oxford, you’ll explore the components of MCP and how they streamline server and client development. After that, you’ll progress from building robust backends and integrating LLMs into intelligent clients to interacting with servers via tools such as Claude for desktop and Visual Studio Code agents. The chapters help you understand the capabilities of hosts, clients, and servers, facilitating better interoperability, easier integration, and clearer communication between different components. The book also covers security best practices and building for the cloud, ensuring that you're ready to deploy your MCP-based apps. Each chapter enables you to develop hands-on skills for building and operating MCP-based agentic apps. *Email sign-up and proof of purchase required

Who is this book for?

This book is ideal for web developers, software architects, AI practitioners, and tech leads looking to build scalable AI-integrated applications using MCP. Product managers overseeing AI initiatives will also find this book valuable. A basic understanding of web development and AI concepts is needed to make the most of this book.