Production MCP development for agentic AI
Newer tools change quickly, so it helps to work with someone who has already shipped the pattern you are buying.
Specialist features sit behind clear interfaces, so your core product stays stable while new capability gets added.
If that sounds like your situation, Arcode is set up for teams searching for MCP development. MCP development services for custom servers, secure tool access, and Cursor/Claude-ready integrations.
What you get
- Custom MCP servers
- Tool and API connectors
- Secure auth patterns
- Agent-ready documentation
- One studio accountable for the result
- Design and engineering on the same schedule
- Support available after launch
How engagement works
As your MCP development, we run a shared backlog, design reviews, and engineering sprints, and you keep one point of contact throughout.
- 01
Discover
Goals, constraints, data sources, and success metrics, all settled before we touch architecture or prompts. On MCP development projects we favour practical architecture over trendy defaults.
- 02
Design
System design, AI/tool boundaries, interface direction, and interaction prototypes. The work for teams in Chicago stays tied to the outcome you asked for.
- 03
Build
Modern stack, clean architecture, evaluated AI behavior, and iterative demos you can react to. You see progress on the critical path every week.
- 04
Launch
Ship, monitor, harden, and keep improving models, tools, and product after go-live. Nothing here waits on a handover between separate teams.
How we build it, and why
The stack is chosen per project, not applied from a template. For MCP development work these are the defaults, and the reason each one is on the list.
- MCP
- the Model Context Protocol, so your tools plug into Claude, Cursor, and other agent clients without a custom adapter for each
- TypeScript
- types across the whole stack, which catches the class of bug that only shows up in production
- Node.js
- one language across the stack, so context does not get lost at the boundary
- Claude
- long-context reasoning and reliable tool calling for agent work
- OpenAI
- a second model provider, so a single vendor's outage or price change is not your problem
What the first weeks look like
- Week 1
Spike the risky part
We build the thinnest possible version of custom mcp servers against your real data. If it is going to be a problem, it is better to know in week one than week six.
- Weeks 2-3
Harden the integration
Auth, rate limits, error paths, and the data contract. This is the work that separates a demo from something you can leave running.
- Weeks 4-6
Wire it into the product
The MCP development stops being a standalone service and becomes a feature people use, with the interface and permissions that implies.
- Ongoing
Evaluate and tune
Behaviour gets measured against cases you care about, and we tune from that rather than from impressions.
Weighing up your options
There are three realistic ways to get this built. Each is the right answer for someone.
A solo freelancer
Cheapest per hour and fine for a contained task. The risk on MCP development is breadth — one person covering design, backend, infrastructure, and launch usually means one of them is weak, and there is no cover when they are unavailable.
A local agency in Chicago
Same timezone and a face to meet, which genuinely matters for some teams. You are also paying Chicago enterprises hiring for dependable full-stack delivery. rates for the whole team including the layers that never touch your MCP development, and a local shortlist is a small shortlist.
Arcode
A small senior team. The people who scope the MCP development write the code, you get weekly demos instead of status decks, and the engagement ends when the thing is live and handed over.
Work we have shipped
Note Assist
AI product · Next.js · Speech
AI meeting assistant with live speech-to-text, ChatGPT chat, and Firebase auth for transcription workflows.
Freelance AI product built with Next.js, Firebase, AssemblyAI, and ChatGPT for live meeting transcription and realtime chat around the transcript.
- · Live speech-to-text transcription
- · Realtime chat over meeting notes
- · Firebase authentication
- · AI-assisted follow-up on transcripts
Next.js · Firebase · AssemblyAI · ChatGPT · TypeScript
Dumbiez
Frontend · NFT product
NFT comics platform for exploring and interacting with digital comic collectibles.
Independent Next.js product for browsing and engaging with NFT comics, styled with Tailwind and shipped on Vercel.
- · NFT comics browsing
- · Interactive collectible UX
- · Responsive Next.js UI
- · Vercel deployment
Next.js · React · Tailwind · Vercel
StudioX Localization
Frontend · i18n
UI polish and language translation pages for the StudioX product experience.
Contract contribution implementing UI fixes and localization pages with Next.js, React, and Tailwind to improve accessibility and multi-language use.
- · Language translation pages
- · UI accessibility fixes
- · Next.js page delivery
- · Clearer multi-language UX
Next.js · React · Tailwind
Working with teams in Chicago
Chicago enterprises hiring for dependable full-stack delivery. We work with clients in Chicago remotely and keep overlapping hours in CST/CDT. We usually collaborate in English.
How we work with Chicago teams
Chicago is ten to eleven hours behind us, so our late afternoon is your morning. That is enough for a daily sync window, with the rest handled in writing so nobody waits on a call to get unblocked.
What Chicago clients usually need
Chicago work leans towards established companies rather than early-stage startups: logistics, insurance, trading-adjacent tooling, and internal platforms that need rebuilding without disrupting the business running on them.
Contracts, data, and compliance
Migrations here usually need a parallel-running period and a rollback plan rather than a cutover date. We invoice in USD under US contractor agreements with IP assignment, and scope SOC 2 evidence in where procurement asks for it.
