Model Context Protocol (MCP)
conceptAn open standard by Anthropic for connecting AI models to external tools and data sources.
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source standard that provides a universal way for AI applications to connect with external data sources and tools. Think of it as a USB-C port for AI — one standardized interface instead of custom integrations for every tool.
MCP uses a client-server architecture. An MCP client (like Claude Desktop or an agent framework) connects to MCP servers that expose tools, resources, and prompts. The protocol handles discovery, invocation, and response formatting.
This matters because without MCP, every AI application needs custom code for every tool it uses. With MCP, a tool written once can be used by any compatible client. OpenClaw is one implementation that uses MCP-compatible tool definitions.