What is…

MCP (Model Context Protocol)

An open standard for plugging AI apps into tools and data — a 'USB-C port' for AI.

Introduced by Anthropic in late 2024 and since adopted across the industry (OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, Cursor and more), MCP defines one common way for an AI app to connect to an external system — GitHub, Slack, Google Drive, a database, your own API. Build an MCP server once and any MCP-compatible assistant can use it.

If an assistant lists "connectors" or "integrations," MCP is very often what's underneath.

💡 Think of it like

USB-C for AI: one standard plug instead of a drawer full of custom cables.

🧠 Test yourself

Which of these describes MCP?

Related terms

Tool use (function calling)

A model's ability to call external tools — search, calculators, code, APIs — and use the results.

Agentic AI (AI agents)

AI that doesn't just answer — it plans, takes actions with tools, checks results and keeps going until the job is done.

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← Tool use Orchestration & subagents →