Model Context Protocol

The Model Context Protocol is an open standard for connecting language models to external tools and data sources. It defines how a server exposes capabilities — read this, search that, call this function — so that any compatible AI application can use them without a bespoke integration.

Its value is the same as any protocol: it turns an N×M problem into an N+M one. Rather than every AI product building its own connector for every system, a system publishes one MCP server and every compatible client can talk to it.

For an organisation with internal systems worth exposing to AI tooling, an MCP server is often a smaller and more durable piece of work than a direct integration with whichever assistant is currently in favour.