Jump to content

Model Context Protocol

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Model Context Protocol
Developed byAnthropic
IntroducedNovember 25, 2024; 17 months ago (2024-11-25)
IndustryArtificial intelligence
Connector type
Websitemodelcontextprotocol.io Edit this at Wikidata
Relationship between MCP client and server

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard and open-source framework introduced by Anthropic in November 2024 to standardize the way artificial intelligence (AI) systems like large language models (LLMs) integrate and share data with external tools, systems, and data sources.[1] MCP provides a universal interface for reading files, executing functions, and handling contextual prompts.[2] Following its announcement, the protocol was adopted by major AI providers, including OpenAI and Google DeepMind.[3][4]

Background

[edit]

MCP was announced by Anthropic in November 2024 as an open standard[5] for connecting AI assistants to data systems such as content repositories, business management tools, and development environments.[6] The protocol was created at Anthropic by engineers David Soria Parra and Justin Spahr-Summers.[7][8] It aims to address the challenge of information silos and legacy systems.[6] Before MCP, developers often had to build custom connectors for each data source or tool, resulting in what Anthropic described as an "N×M" data integration problem.[6][9]

Earlier stop-gap approaches—such as OpenAI's 2023 "function-calling" API and the ChatGPT plug-in framework—solved similar problems but required vendor-specific connectors.[9] MCP re-uses the message-flow ideas of the Language Server Protocol (LSP) and is transported over JSON-RPC 2.0.[10]

In December 2025, Anthropic donated the MCP to the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF), a directed fund under the Linux Foundation, co-founded by Anthropic, Block and OpenAI, with support from other companies.[11]

Features

[edit]

The protocol was released with software development kits (SDKs) in programming languages including Python, TypeScript, C# and Java.[10][12] Anthropic maintains an open-source repository of reference MCP server implementations and SDKs.[13]

MCP defines a standardized framework for integrating AI systems with external data sources and tools.[2] It includes specifications for data ingestion and transformation, contextual metadata tagging, and AI interoperability across different platforms. The protocol also supports bidirectional connections between data sources and AI tools.[6][non-primary source needed]

MCP enables applications such as querying structured databases with plain language in the field of natural language data access.[10]

The protocol is used in AI-assisted software development tools. Integrated development environments (IDEs), coding platforms such as Replit, and code intelligence tools like Sourcegraph have adopted MCP to grant AI coding assistants real-time access to project context.[5]

MCP Apps (formerly mcp-ui) is an official extension to the Model Context Protocol, formalized under the SEP-1865 specification in early 2026. While the base MCP specification is restricted to text and structured data, MCP Apps standardizes the delivery of interactive user interfaces—such as React-based dashboards, forms, and data visualizations—from MCP servers to host applications like Claude and ChatGPT.[14][non-primary source needed]

Adoption

[edit]

In March 2025, OpenAI officially adopted the MCP, after having integrated the standard across its products, including the ChatGPT desktop app.[3][2] In September 2025, OpenAI added support for MCP to ChatGPT apps. This allows for third-party access inside ChatGPT.[15]

MCP can be integrated with Microsoft Semantic Kernel,[16] and Azure OpenAI.[17] MCP servers can be deployed to Cloudflare.[18][non-primary source needed]

In April 2026, the AAIF held the MCP Dev Summit North America in New York City, drawing approximately 1,200 attendees.[19]

Reception

[edit]

The Verge reported that MCP addresses a growing demand for AI agents that are contextually aware and capable of pulling from diverse sources.[5]

In April 2025, security researchers released an analysis that concluded there are multiple outstanding security issues with MCP, including prompt injection,[20] tool permissions that allow for combining tools to exfiltrate data,[21] and lookalike tools that can silently replace trusted ones.[22]

MCP has been likened to OpenAPI, a similar specification that aims to describe APIs.[23][24]

See also

[edit]
  • Agent2Agent – Open protocol for communication between AI agents
  • AI governance – Guidelines and laws to regulate AI
  • Application programming interface – Connection between computers or programs
  • LangChain – Language model application development framework
  • Machine learning – Subset of artificial intelligence
  • Software agent – Computer program acting for a user

References

[edit]
  1. ^ David, Emilia (November 25, 2024). "Anthropic releases Model Context Protocol to standardize AI-data integration". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  2. ^ a b c Kumar, Vinay (March 26, 2025). "The open source Model Context Protocol was just updated — here's why it's a big deal". VentureBeat. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  3. ^ a b Wiggers, Kyle (March 25, 2025). "OpenAI adopts rival Anthropic's standard for connecting AI models to data". TechCrunch.
  4. ^ Wiggers, Kyle (April 9, 2025). "Google to embrace Anthropic's standard for connecting AI models to data". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  5. ^ a b c Roth, Emma (November 25, 2024). "Anthropic launches tool to connect AI systems directly to datasets". The Verge.
  6. ^ a b c d "Introducing the Model Context Protocol". Anthropic. November 25, 2024. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  7. ^ Bellan, Rebecca (2025-12-09). "OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize the AI agent era". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  8. ^ "MCP Co-Creator on the Next Wave of LLM Innovation". Andreessen Horowitz. 2025-05-02. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  9. ^ a b Edwards, Benj (1 April 2025). "MCP: The new "USB-C for AI" that's bringing fierce rivals together". Ars Technica. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
  10. ^ a b c Ouellette, Michael (2025-05-09). "Model context protocol: the next big step in generating value from AI". Engineering.com. Retrieved 2025-06-23.
  11. ^ Bellan, Rebecca (2025-12-09). "OpenAI, Anthropic, and Block join new Linux Foundation effort to standardize the AI agent era". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2025-12-10.
  12. ^ "Model Context Protocol". GitHub. Retrieved 2025-06-20.
  13. ^ "Model Context Protocol (MCP)". GitHub. Anthropic. Retrieved 2026-03-20.
  14. ^ "SEP-1865: MCP Apps - Interactive User Interfaces for MCP". Model Context Protocol. Retrieved 2026-04-28.
  15. ^ "OpenAI adds 'powerful but dangerous' support for MCP in ChatGPT dev mode". VentureBeat. September 11, 2025. Retrieved 2026-04-09.
  16. ^ Wallace, Mark (March 5, 2025). "Integrating Model Context Protocol Tools with Semantic Kernel: A Step-by-Step Guide". Semantic Kernel Dev Blog, Microsoft. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  17. ^ mrajguru (March 16, 2025). "Model Context Protocol (MCP): Integrating Azure OpenAI for Enhanced Tool Integration and Prompting". AI - Azure AI services Blog, Microsoft. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  18. ^ Brendan Irvine-Broque; Dina Kozlov; Glen Maddern (March 25, 2025). "Build and deploy Remote Model Context Protocol (MCP) servers to Cloudflare". Cloudflare. Retrieved 2025-05-12.
  19. ^ "AAIF's MCP Dev Summit: Gateways, gRPC, and Observability Signal Protocol Hardening". InfoQ. 2026-04-14. Retrieved 20 April 2026.
  20. ^ Lakshmanan, Ravie (30 April 2025). "Researchers Demonstrate How MCP Prompt Injection Can Be Used for Both Attack and Defense". thehackernews.com.
  21. ^ Beurer-Kellner, Luca; Fischer, Marc (1 April 2025). "MCP Security Notification: Tool Poisoning Attacks". InvariantLabs.
  22. ^ Schulz, Kasimir; Martin, Jason; Kan, Marcus; Yeung, Kenneth; McCauley, Conor; Ring, Leo (10 April 2025). "MCP: Model Context Pitfalls in an Agentic World". hiddenlayer.com.
  23. ^ MacManus, Richard (13 March 2025). "MCP: The Missing Link Between AI Agents and APIs". The New Stack. Retrieved 29 May 2025.
  24. ^ Fanelli, Alessio. "Why MCP Won". www.latent.space. Retrieved 29 May 2025.

Further reading

[edit]
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Model_Context_Protocol&oldid=1352045978"