In today’s era, it’s easy to build modern web applications, and it’s also easy to integrate with powerful APIs or protocols. If you’re looking to connect to MCP (Message Control Protocol) through an existing React app, you’ve come to the right place. Today, we’ll show you how to turn a React app into an MCP client in a few simple steps.
MCP (Message Control Protocol) is a lightweight communication protocol, commonly used in real-time message-passing systems. It works over TCP or WebSocket and allows structured message exchange.
Why MCP?
- Lightweight and fast
- Bi-directional real-time communication
- Structured messaging format
- Custom command and handler capabilities
- Custom command and handler capabilities
Before you start
What you need to integrate MCP into your React app:
- An existing React app (even one created with create-react-app)
- socket.io-client or MCP client library (if the protocol is WebSocket-based)
- Some basic JavaScript and React knowledge
Step 1: Install the MCP class library
npm install socket.io-client
Or install the library you will use for MCP.
Step 2: Establish the connection
Create a file src/mcpClient.js:
import { io } from "socket.io-client";
const socket = io("http://your-mcp-server.com"); // MCP server URL
socket.on("connect", () => {
console.log("MCP client connected:", socket.id);
});
// Example: Sending a message
export function sendMessage(command, payload) {
socket.emit("mcp-command", { command, payload });
}
// Example: Receiving a message
export function onMessage(callback) {
socket.on("mcp-response", callback);
}
export default sock;
Step 3: Use MCP in React components
import React, { useEffect } from "react";
import { sendMessage, onMessage } from "./mcpClient";
function MCPComponent() {
useEffect(() => {
onMessage((data) => {
console.log("Server response:", data);
});
sendMessage("getStatus", { userId: "12345" });
}, []);
return <div> MCP is up and running! Check out the developer console.</div>;
}
export default MCPComponent;
Step 4: Add UI (Optional)
You can add more UI to display input fields, buttons, or logs to make sending or receiving messages more user-friendly.
Conclusion
You can turn your app into a MCP class by simply following the steps in the app. This setup is useful for real-time apps – such as chat, live dashboards, or remote control systems.
