Model Context Protocol (MCP)
MCP is an open protocol that standardizes how AI applications connect to external tools and data sources, so a model can use many integrations through one common interface.
Rather than building a custom integration for every data source and tool, MCP defines a shared way for an AI client to discover and call capabilities exposed by an MCP server. That lets the same model connect to files, databases, APIs, and services through one protocol instead of many bespoke connectors.
The practical appeal is composability: a tool built once as an MCP server can be reused across any MCP-compatible application. It is part of a broader move toward treating tools and context as pluggable infrastructure around the model.
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