What is MCP?

Ever wished your AI assistant could actually do things — not just talk about them?

In this walkthrough, I show you how to connect Wordsmith to Jira and Google Calendar using MCP (Model Context Protocol), the open standard that's being called the USB-C of AI.

In under 12 minutes, you'll see how to build an AI agent that pulls your Jira tickets, triages them using a red/amber/green priority system, and schedules meetings on your behalf — all from a single trigger word.

I cover three ways to set up MCP connections (native app servers, Zapier, and third-party directories like PipeDream), how to write custom instructions that keep you in control with human-in-the-loop approval, and a live demo where the agent triages real tickets and books a call — updating both the calendar and Jira automatically. Whether you're in legal ops, project management, or just drowning in tickets and calendar admin, this is what practical AI automation looks like when the tools actually talk to each other.