Definition·
Agents

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

An open protocol that standardizes how an AI model connects to external tools and data sources.

Detailed explanation

The Model Context Protocol, introduced by Anthropic, plays the same role for LLMs that USB-C plays for hardware: a single interface to expose tools, files, databases or APIs to an agent. Servers describe tools and resources; clients (IDE, chat, agent) consume them.

Examples

MCP server exposing a Jira backlog
MCP server reading files from a Git repo
MCP connector to a Postgres database

Frequently asked questions

Why MCP rather than a custom API?

Any MCP-compatible assistant can plug in without bespoke integration, drastically cutting interoperability cost.

Related terms

Last updated: 7/15/2026

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