# Rafal Wilinski builds a visual explainer of MCP wire messages

> Original title: most of us (definitely me) thought MCP was just about tools

- Source: X search: indie AI launches (I built, solo founder)
- Published: 2026-11-05T12:54:17.000Z
- Bad Influence: https://badinfluence.news/items/dtqd0eds74x73x5pu006a0ks6
- Original: https://x.com/rafalwilinski/status/2118326031350219057

## Summary

Rafal Wilinski has built mcp-explained.com, a visual explainer that walks through every message MCP sends on the wire, step by step. He says MCP covers more than tools, including resources, OAuth, sampling, elicitation, and tasks.

## Post

most of us (definitely me) thought MCP was just about tools

working with it for the past +1 year taught me there’s so much more: resources, OAuth, sampling, elicitation, tasks, etc

so i built a visual explainer. Every message on the wire, step by step:

https://mcp-explained.com

[Video](https://badinfluence.news/api/img-proxy?u=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Famplify_video_thumb%2F2118325995602116608%2Fimg%2FSBm2Rv9aTQeP_Lq1.jpg&mode=thumb&exp=1794096000&sig=8c12a901f209d31c)