The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard, introduced by Anthropic, for connecting AI applications to the external systems they need: data sources, tools, and workflows. Instead of building a custom integration for every model-to-system pairing, developers expose data and tools once through MCP, and any MCP-compatible AI application can use them.
Anthropic announced MCP in November 2024 in “Introducing the Model Context Protocol.” The official specification and documentation site, modelcontextprotocol.io, describes MCP as “an open-source standard for connecting AI applications to external systems” and compares it to “a USB-C port for AI applications” — one standardized connector in place of many bespoke ones. It is now supported across a broad ecosystem of clients and development tools.
MCP underpins how modern agents reach calendars, databases, design files, and other systems.
Why business readers should care: MCP is becoming the common plug between AI assistants and your company’s tools and data. Adopting a shared standard reduces lock-in and integration cost, and makes it easier to swap or combine AI vendors.