API and MCP Connectors
Understand how an assistant connects to business services, what APIs and MCP do, and how to use a connected source clearly in a session.
Understand the idea before the settings
Learn the connection pieces through a fictional catering booking workflow, without programming an API or entering account credentials.
Distinguish APIs, MCP hosts and servers, connectors, extensions, plugins and skills.
Practice choosing a source, checking the session’s available actions, reading a result and keeping a draft separate from a live update.
Authentication, permissions and provider requirements vary. All course activities use prepared examples; live connections are optional and need their own supported setup.
Learn the concepts through prepared examples and immediate browser feedback. You do not have to write code, type terminal commands, buy a subscription or connect a real business account. Optional app actions use existing files, menus and ordinary-language questions.
What this course helps you understand
- Explain APIs and MCP in ordinary language.
- Identify the source, account and available session tools.
- Understand supported authentication and appropriate access.
- Ask a clear connected question.
- Distinguish lookups, drafts, writes and verified results.
What you need
- A browser is enough for the prepared activities.
- Optional app practice needs VS Code and permission to use the selected feature.
- Optional live AI services have their own account, availability and cost requirements.
Complete written lessons are available. Recorded videos have not been added.
Open your prepared course folder
Start with the browser examples. When you want the practice files beside the lesson, download the Academy starter and extract it.
Open proscris-academy-starter/START-HERE.html for the course directory. Shared guidance lives in shared/; this course is in courses/api-and-mcp-connectors/. Its own START-HERE.html explains the included examples.
The ZIP contains prepared learning files. It does not install an application, connect an account or include paid subscriptions. Real-app actions are optional.
Your ten small steps
Follow the order, or return to the part you want to recognize again. The times are a rough guide, and there is no deadline.
- 01About 10 min
An API Is a Service Counter for Software
Understand an API as a defined way for software to request information or actions from a service.
- 02About 10 min
MCP Gives Compatible Agents a Shared Connection Pattern
Recognize MCP as a shared protocol connecting a compatible AI application with offered tools and information.
- 03About 10 min
Connector, Extension, Plugin or Skill?
Distinguish the interface, the connection, the editor addition and the reusable working guidance.
- 04About 10 min
Connect the Right Account With the Right Access
Use the intended account and the access needed for the actual task.
- 05About 10 min
Discover What This Session Can Actually Do
Check the relevant tools and source available to the current session before promising connected work.
- 06About 10 min
Give the Connector a Useful Question
Ask a source-specific question with an identifiable record, a useful result and clear limits.
- 07About 10 min
Follow a Read-Only Lookup
Trace a lookup from a named request through returned information to an accurate summary.
- 08About 10 min
A Draft Is Different From a Live Update
Keep proposed wording, saved records and external delivery as separate, reviewable stages.
- 09About 10 min
When a Connection Is Missing or Stops Working
Distinguish connection availability, sign-in, permissions and uncertain outcomes before choosing a next step.
- 10About 10 min
Keep a Connection Map Your Team Can Understand
Keep a clear map of each connection’s source, account, purpose, available actions and checked result.
Connected courses
Keep learning with another focused course. Each has its own written lessons, examples and prepared files.
How Your Agent Uses Tools
Understand file tools, the terminal, connectors, extensions and plugins while keeping your own role simple: describe the outcome and review the evidence.
10 written lessons · Guided browser activities · Free to read
Explore this courseVS Code Extensions for Beginners
Choose useful editor add-ons, understand their publishers and requirements, and manage them through a clear, practical routine.
10 written lessons · Guided browser activities · Free to read
Explore this courseAgent Files and Reusable Skills
Turn your working methods into supported project instructions and small SKILL.md packages that an assistant can use and you can review.
10 written lessons · Guided browser activities · Free to read
Explore this courseHelpful Context and Project Memory
Give your assistant the right facts, project notes and handovers without assuming it remembers everything. Learn to select sources, resolve stale information and keep useful context easy to find.
10 written lessons · Guided browser activities · Free to read
Explore this courseKeep your place at your own pace
Checkmarks and lesson completion stay in this browser. They are personal learning notes, without grading, certification or account sync.
Use the course library to choose your next topic, or explore the readable skill methods.