Building Interactive MCP Apps with Skybridge

The Skybridge Framework

Skybridge is an open-source TypeScript framework designed to abstract the complexity of building Model Context Protocol (MCP) apps. Instead of manually managing JSON-RPC communication or state synchronization between an LLM and a web interface, developers write standard React code. The framework handles the underlying protocol plumbing, allowing the AI assistant and the human user to interact with the same shared interface in real time.

Local Development and Testing

Skybridge includes a redesigned developer dashboard that eliminates the friction of traditional MCP testing loops. The dashboard provides three primary utilities:

• Alpic Playground: A local sandbox environment that supports hot module replacement, allowing developers to iterate on React widgets without needing to trigger an LLM request for every change.
• Integrated Tunneling: A one-click utility that exposes the local development server to a secure public URL, which can be pasted directly into the connector settings of platforms like Claude.
• Beacon Audit Tool: A pre-submission scanner that evaluates app metadata, tool definitions, and security policies against common store rejection criteria.

Implementation Workflow

To build an MCP app, developers can install the Skybridge skill into their project repository. By providing an AI agent with the project context, the agent can generate the necessary MCP tool definitions and React components based on user requirements. Once generated, the app can be tested in the local emulator to verify state updates, mobile responsiveness, and dark mode support before being connected to a production chatbot interface.