Model Context Protocol

Model Context Protocol is an open standard for AI tool integration launched by Anthropic in late 2024, designed to let AI models connect with external software and data sources through a single, universal interface rather than requiring custom adapters for each tool . It abstracts tools, APIs, and databases as "context providers," allowing AI systems to understand what a user wants to accomplish and then locate and use appropriate tools autonomously . By early 2025, MCP had been integrated into more than ten tools including Claude Desktop, Cursor, and Continue, with over 1,000 community-contributed servers covering file systems, GitHub, Google Drive, and other services . Its rapid ascent as a de facto industry standard owed less to technical perfection than to balanced design across abstraction, expressiveness, usability, and debuggability, combined with Anthropic's substantial backing and first-mover advantage in a market hungry for standardization . In December 2025, Anthropic donated MCP to the Linux Foundation's Agentic AI Foundation, completing its transition from a single company's product to shared infrastructure .