Define the task and the boundary

Start with a task you can judge. 'Find a document I can access and return its source link' can be tested. 'Connect all our knowledge' cannot.

Write the boundary down

• The data source the server will reach.
• The allowed actions: read, create, update or delete. A read-only research task does not need a write token.
• The user group for the pilot.
• A failure condition, for example: the server returns a document outside the test user's permissions.

Record the exact client

Note the client name, version and deployment mode. Confirm its supported transport against the server's documentation. Local stdio and remote Streamable HTTP differ in setup and operations. Use the instructions written for your own client, and do not paste a configuration block from another client without checking its schema.

Keep the first connection small

Use data that can be exposed during a pilot. Keep production customer data and production secrets out of the first connection.

Write the acceptance test now

Before you install anything, write what a pass looks like: the expected result, the expected denial, and what should happen when the upstream service is down. You fill in the actual results in lesson 3.