Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that standardizes how AI applications (clients) connect to external systems (servers) that expose tools, resources, and prompts. It uses JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio or HTTP transports.

**Host**: The application holding user/agent context (e.g., Claude Desktop, Cursor).

**Client**: The protocol component maintaining a 1:1 connection to a server.

**Server**: Exposes tools, resources, and prompts for a specific capability.

**Transport**: stdio (local) or Streamable HTTP (remote).