Glossary
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
An open standard for connecting AI systems to tools and data sources.
Definition
The Model Context Protocol is an open standard, introduced by Anthropic, for how AI applications expose tools, data, and prompts to language models. MCP servers describe their capabilities; MCP clients (AI applications) discover and use them in a standardized way.
Context
MCP is the practical answer to the integration tax that previously slowed agentic AI deployment. Instead of building custom adapters per tool, organizations stand up MCP servers for their internal systems and let any MCP-aware AI application use them. As of 2026, MCP is widely adopted across the major AI labs and tooling vendors.