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
Core MCP Primitives: Master Tools and Prompts through practical examples
MCP Server Development: Build a functional server with proper structure and error handling
GitHub Actions Integration: Use Cloudflare Tunnel to receive webhooks and process CI/CD events
Hugging Face Hub Workflows: Create specialized workflows for LLM development teams
Multi-System Integration: Connect GitHub, Slack, and Hugging Face Hub through MCP
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
Module 1: Build MCP Server - Create a basic server with Tools for PR template suggestions
Module 2: GitHub Actions Integration - Monitor CI/CD with Cloudflare Tunnel and Prompts
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.
Installation Required: This unit requires Claude Code for testing MCP server integration with AI workflows.
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.
New to Claude Code? If you encounter any setup issues, the troubleshooting guide covers common installation and authentication problems.
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.