Advanced MCP Development: Building Custom Workflow Servers for Claude Code

Welcome to Unit 3! In this unit, we’ll build a practical MCP server that enhances Claude Code with custom development workflows while learning all three MCP primitives.

What You’ll Build

PR Agent Workflow Server - An MCP server that demonstrates how to make Claude Code team-aware and workflow-intelligent:

• Smart PR Management: Automatic PR template selection based on code changes using MCP Tools
• CI/CD Monitoring: Track GitHub Actions with Cloudflare Tunnel and standardized Prompts
• Team Communication: Slack notifications demonstrating all MCP primitives working together

Real-World Case Study

We’ll implement a practical scenario every development team faces:

Before: Developer manually creates PRs, waits for Actions to complete, manually checks results, remembers to notify team members

After: Claude Code connected to your workflow server can intelligently:

• Suggest the right PR template based on changed files
• Monitor GitHub Actions runs and provide formatted summaries
• Automatically notify team via Slack when deployments succeed/fail
• Guide developers through team-specific review processes based on Actions results

Key Learning Outcomes

1. Core MCP Primitives: Master Tools and Prompts through practical examples
2. MCP Server Development: Build a functional server with proper structure and error handling
3. GitHub Actions Integration: Use Cloudflare Tunnel to receive webhooks and process CI/CD events
4. Hugging Face Hub Workflows: Create specialized workflows for LLM development teams
5. Multi-System Integration: Connect GitHub, Slack, and Hugging Face Hub through MCP
6. Claude Code Enhancement: Make Claude understand your team’s specific workflows

MCP Primitives in Action

This unit provides hands-on experience with the core MCP primitives:

• Tools (Module 1): Functions Claude can call to analyze files and suggest templates
• Prompts (Module 2): Standardized workflows for consistent team processes
• Integration (Module 3): All primitives working together for complex automation

Module Structure

1. Module 1: Build MCP Server - Create a basic server with Tools for PR template suggestions
2. Module 2: GitHub Actions Integration - Monitor CI/CD with Cloudflare Tunnel and Prompts
3. Module 3: Slack Notification - Team communication integrating all MCP primitives

Prerequisites

Before starting this unit, ensure you have:

• Completion of Units 1 and 2
• Basic familiarity with GitHub Actions and webhook concepts
• Access to a GitHub repository for testing (can be a personal test repo)
• A Slack workspace where you can create webhook integrations

Claude Code Installation and Setup

This unit requires Claude Code to test your MCP server integration.

Quick Setup:

Follow the official installation guide to install Claude Code and complete authentication. The key steps are installing via npm, navigating to your project directory, and running claude to authenticate through console.anthropic.com.

Once installed, you’ll use Claude Code throughout this unit to test your MCP server and interact with the workflow automation you build.

By the end of this unit, you’ll have built a complete MCP server that demonstrates how to transform Claude Code into a powerful team development assistant, with hands-on experience using all three MCP primitives.

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