Posted on Mar 24 • Originally published at 0nmcp.com

How to Build an AI Employee Using MCP and Claude

#ai #mcp #automation #productivity

What if your AI assistant could actually DO things — not just talk about them?

With MCP (Model Context Protocol) and 0nMCP, you can build an AI employee that:

Responds to customer messages automatically
Scores leads and updates your CRM
Creates invoices and sends them
Posts to social media on schedule
Generates reports from your data

Here's how.

The Architecture

You (or a trigger) → Claude/AI → 0nMCP → APIs → Results

A trigger fires (new message, schedule, webhook)
Claude receives the context
0nMCP executes the required API calls
Results flow back

Example 1: Auto-Responder

When a customer sends a message to your CRM:

Webhook fires → hits your endpoint
Claude reads the message + contact history
Claude generates a personalized response
0nMCP sends the response via CRM API

All automatic. Response time: under 10 seconds.

Example 2: Lead Scorer

When a new contact is created:

CRM webhook fires
Claude analyzes: email domain, title, company, source
Assigns a score 0-100
0nMCP updates the contact with the score and tags

High-score leads get tagged "hot" and assigned to sales immediately.

Example 3: Content Creator

On a daily schedule:

Cron triggers the workflow
Claude generates a LinkedIn post based on your voice profile
0nMCP posts it via the social media API
Done — fresh content every day without lifting a finger

Setting It Up

Step 1: Install 0nMCP

npm install -g 0nmcp

Step 2: Connect Your Services

Add credentials for the services your AI employee needs:

CRM for contacts and conversations
Stripe for invoicing
Slack for notifications
SendGrid for emails

Step 3: Create a Workflow

Save this as auto-responder.0n:

{
  "$0n": {
    "type": "workflow",
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "name": "Auto Responder"
  },
  "trigger": {
    "type": "webhook",
    "config": { "path": "/hooks/auto-respond" }
  },
  "steps": [
    {
      "id": "step_001",
      "service": "anthropic",
      "action": "chat_completion",
      "params": { "model": "claude-sonnet-4-20250514", "messages": [{"role": "user", "content": "Generate a reply to: {{inputs.message}}"}] },
      "output": "reply"
    },
    {
      "id": "step_002",
      "service": "crm",
      "action": "send_message",
      "params": { "contactId": "{{inputs.contactId}}", "type": "Email", "message": "{{step_001.output.response}}" }
    }
  ]
}

Step 4: Run It

0nmcp run auto-responder.0n

Your AI employee is now live.

The Cost

0nMCP is free and open source. The only cost is the AI API calls (Claude/OpenAI) — typically $0.01-0.05 per execution.

For a business running 100 automated actions per day, that's about $3/month.

Get Started

npm install -g 0nmcp — your first AI employee starts today.

DEV Community