Model Context Protocol

Programming with LLMs in R and Python

posit::conf(2026)

2026-09-14

MCP

MCP

Recall: Tools

a.k.a. functions, tool calling or function calling

• Bring real-time or up-to-date information to the model

• Let the model interact with the world

🤔 What other tools could be useful?

• Get the weather
• Search the posit::conf() schedule
• ...

Some ideas:

• web search
• search a ticket system (zendesk)
• search a website or knowledge base
• Create tickets
• Send emails
• Read your calendar
• Summarize your email

🤔 What GitHub-related tools would be useful?

• List issues
• ...

Some ideas:

• web search
• search a ticket system (zendesk)
• search a website or knowledge base
• Create tickets
• Send emails
• Read your calendar
• Summarize your email

Who should write tools for GitHub?

MCP solves this problem! GitHub writes tools…

and lets you your models use them.

GitHub MCP Server

Your Turn 52_mcp

Follow the instructions in README.R.md or README.py.md for this task.

1. What MCP servers are out there?

2. Set up context7 as an MCP server in Positron.

3. Use context7 tools to answer a coding translation question.