MCP Course by Hugging Face is the official Model Context Protocol curriculum, built in partnership with Anthropic. Alex Notov, Anthropic Technical Partner Enablement Lead, co authored Unit 3. Four units plus bonus. Free. Two certificates, Fundamentals for completing Unit 1, Completion for completing Units 2 and 3. Capstone is a PR Agent Workflow Server that extends Claude Code to be team aware.
MCP Course: What You’ll Learn
This is the first of two MCP courses in the Iqraa AI Agents series, the second being Microsoft MCP for Beginners. The Hugging Face course is the project based guided path with Anthropic partnership. The Microsoft course is the multi language reference. We recommend doing this one first, then Microsoft as a desktop reference.
The Four Units
- Unit 0, Onboarding. Tools and platforms setup.
- Unit 1, MCP Fundamentals, Architecture and Core Concepts. Core concepts, architecture, components, simple use case. This unit alone earns the Fundamentals certificate.
- Unit 2, End to end Use case MCP in Action. Build a sentiment analysis MCP server with Gradio. Multi client via HuggingFace.js TypeScript or SmolAgents Python. Deploy to HF Spaces.
- Unit 3, Deployed Use case MCP in Action. PR Agent Workflow Server for Claude Code. Three modules, smart PR template via Tools, GitHub Actions CI CD monitoring via Cloudflare Tunnel plus Prompts, Slack notifications using all three primitives.
- Unit 4, Bonus Units. Partners libraries. Coming soon.
Prerequisites
Basic understanding of AI and LLM concepts. Familiarity with software development principles and API concepts. Experience with at least one programming language. Python and TypeScript examples are shown. Python 3.10 or later and Node.js 18 or later for Unit 2.
Two Distinct Certificates
The Fundamentals certificate requires completing Unit 1. The Completion certificate requires completing Units 2 and 3, the use case units. Both are free. Audit mode is also allowed.
Anthropic Partnership
The course is built in partnership with Anthropic. Unit 3 explicitly teaches Claude Code integration, which is the same Claude Code we cover extensively on this site. The PR Agent Workflow Server capstone is a working extension to Claude Code that you can use in real repositories.
A Worked Example, the PR Agent Workflow Server
Unit 3’s capstone is a PR Agent Workflow Server that extends Claude Code. It does three things. First, smart PR template suggestions based on code changes, using MCP Tools. Second, GitHub Actions CI CD monitoring via Cloudflare Tunnel, using MCP Prompts. Third, Slack notifications using all three MCP primitives together, Tools, Prompts, and Resources. By the end you have a working MCP server you can plug into Claude Code in your real repositories.
MCP Course: Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Stopping at the Fundamentals certificate. The Completion certificate requires the use case units. Stopping at Fundamentals means you skipped the actual building.
- Confusing this with the Microsoft MCP course. HF is project based guided path with Anthropic. Microsoft is multi language reference with Azure.
- Skipping Unit 3 Claude Code integration. That is the most directly useful module for readers of this site.
MCP Course: Best Practices
- Do the units in order. Unit 3 builds on Units 1 and 2.
- Use HF Spaces for hosting. Free tier is enough.
- Pair with the Claude Code MCP Servers guide on this site for production usage.
- Submit your capstone PR Agent Workflow Server to your own GitHub repo as a portfolio piece.
MCP Course: Frequently Asked Questions
Is the HF MCP Course free?
Yes. Apache 2.0 license, free certificates.
Do I need a Hugging Face account?
Yes for certificates and HF Spaces deployment. Audit mode allowed without notification.
How is this different from Microsoft MCP for Beginners?
HF is project based guided path, Anthropic partnership, Claude Code capstone. Microsoft is multi language reference, Azure focused.
What is the relationship with Anthropic?
Co developed. Alex Notov of Anthropic wrote Unit 3.
How long does it take?
Three to five weeks at three to four hours per week.
What languages are used?
Python and TypeScript via HF wrappers like Gradio MCP and HuggingFace.js.
MCP Course by Hugging Face is the guided MCP path with Anthropic partnership. Pair with Microsoft MCP for multi language reference.