The exam asks which primitive fits a given need. Build one server that exposes all three for the same domain, and the distinction stops being vocabulary.
What to build
- Pick a small domain — a document store works well.
- Expose a tool for the action with side effects (index a document).
- Expose resources for the readable catalogue (the documents themselves).
- Expose a prompt for a reusable templated interaction (summarise-in-house-style).
- Run it over stdio and connect a client.
- Then run the same server over Streamable HTTP and connect remotely.
- Write down which transport you would choose for a local dev tool and for a shared team service.
Done when
- Each primitive holds something that genuinely belongs to it.
- The server works over both transports without changing its core logic.
- You can justify the transport choice for two different deployment shapes.
- You can explain the host/client/server roles in your own words.
If you want to go further
- Add pagination metadata to a resource listing and handle it in the client.
The trap this exercise teaches
Modelling everything as a tool. A read-only catalogue exposed as a tool forces a call for information the client could have listed.
Before you start
The theory behind this build is covered in MCP primitives and transports. If any step below is unfamiliar, read that first — the exercise assumes it. Primary source: MCP — Architecture.
Check yourself against the exam
This exercise sits in Domain 4, which is 18% of the CCAR‑F exam. Once you have built it, run a domain drill in the study app and see whether the questions read differently.