MCP (Model Context Protocol) - AI-Native Server Development

Overview

Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI assistants to external data sources and tools. Build servers that expose tools (functions LLMs can call), resources (data LLMs can read), and prompts (templates LLMs can use).

Key Concepts:

• Tools: Functions LLMs can execute (read files, query APIs, run commands)
• Resources: Data sources LLMs can access (files, databases, APIs)
• Prompts: Reusable templates with arguments for common tasks
• Client-Server: MCP servers expose capabilities, clients (like Claude Desktop) consume them
• Transport: STDIO (local), SSE (Server-Sent Events), HTTP (network)

Official SDKs:

• TypeScript: @modelcontextprotocol/sdk
• Python: mcp