Building an MCP Server: Turning an E-Commerce Application into an AI Agent

Large language models become much more useful when they can interact with real applications instead of only generating text. The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is emerging as a simple and open way to connect AI agents with external tools and services.

In this session, I will walk through the process of building an MCP server for an e-commerce application from scratch. Rather than focusing only on the protocol, the talk will cover the practical engineering decisions involved in exposing business operations as AI tools. The session will demonstrate how product search, inventory lookup, order management and other application features can be safely made available to an AI agent through MCP. I will also discuss challenges such as tool design, context handling, validation, security considerations and debugging, along with the lessons learned during implementation.

The talk will include a live demonstration showing an AI agent interacting with the application through the MCP server. Attendees will leave with a clear understanding of how MCP works, how it differs from traditional API integrations, and how they can start building their own AI-enabled applications using open standards.

• Understand the motivation behind the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and where it fits in modern AI applications.

• Learn how to design and implement an MCP server from scratch.

• See how existing application features can be exposed as tools for AI agents.

• Understand common implementation challenges, including context management, validation and security.

• Watch a complete end-to-end demo of an AI agent interacting with an e-commerce application through MCP.

• Gain practical guidance to start building MCP-enabled applications using open-source tools.