Definition
Anthropic introduced the Model Context Protocol in November 2024 as an open standard. An MCP server exposes tools, data and prompts from a system such as a CRM, a file store or a database; an MCP client inside an AI application connects to it and lets the model use those capabilities.
Before MCP, every pairing of AI app and business system needed its own integration. With a shared protocol, a company can publish one MCP server for a system and reuse it across assistants and agents. Major AI providers and developer tools now support it, which makes it a common building block in enterprise agent projects.