Anthropic MCP
protocolThe Model Context Protocol (MCP) by Anthropic is an open standard that defines how AI applications connect to external tools and data. It provides a client-server architecture where MCP clients (AI apps) discover and use tools exposed by MCP servers.
MCP standardizes tool discovery, invocation, and response handling. A tool written as an MCP server works with any MCP-compatible client — Claude Desktop, VS Code extensions, agent frameworks, and more. This eliminates the need for custom integrations per tool per client.
The protocol also supports resources (read-only data sources) and prompts (reusable prompt templates), making it a comprehensive interface between AI and external systems.
Key Features
- •Standardized tool discovery and invocation
- •Client-server architecture
- •Resources for read-only data access
- •Prompt templates
- •Growing ecosystem of MCP servers
Pros
- +Open standard — no vendor lock-in
- +Write once, use everywhere
- +Growing ecosystem
- +Backed by Anthropic
Cons
- −Still relatively new
- −Not all tools have MCP servers yet
- −Some frameworks have limited MCP support