MCP and Connectors

Lesson: MCP and AI Connectors

WHY

• You built an AI app. It's smart. But it only knows what you paste into it
• Real users want AI that reads their emails, checks their calendar, opens their files
• Without a standard, you'd write custom code for every single service. That's not scalable
• You need one universal way for AI to plug into anything

WHAT

• MCP: a standard protocol that lets AI models call external tools (calendar, email, GitHub, etc.)
• Connectors: pre-built MCP servers for popular services. Plug in, done
• The model auto-discovers what tools are available and decides when to use them

ANALOGY

• USB-C: one cable, every device. MCP: one standard, every service. Same idea

EXAMPLE

• You're building a deadline reminder bot
• You add two connectors: Google Calendar + Gmail
• Prompt: "Check this week's schedule and email a reminder about upcoming deadlines"
• The model calls calendar.list_events, reads the data, calls gmail.send_message
• You wrote zero integration code. The connectors handled everything
• Need Google Docs too? Third connector. Same plug

CHALLENGE

You're a freelancer. Build a bot that gives you a Monday morning summary of your week.

• Connect Google Calendar, Gmail, Notion, and Trello MCP servers
• Ask the model to pull this week's meetings, unread client emails, and your Notion task board
• Have it generate a single prioritized summary: what's urgent, what can wait
• Write the summary back to a Notion page
• For each urgent item, automatically create a task on your Trello board