The open protocol for connecting models to tools, data, and prompts across vendors.
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13 articles
Listed inData LayerModel Context Protocolon
The normative source: lifecycle, capability negotiation, transports, and the exact shape of tools, resources, and prompts.
Listed inModel Context Protocol (MCP)Model Context Protocolon
Hosts, clients and servers, and the three primitives a server exposes: tools, resources and prompts. Includes a working TypeScript server in about forty lines, and the mistakes that make a server unusable in practice.
Listed inModel Context Protocol (MCP)Model Context Protocolon
The announcement that started the ecosystem — why a shared protocol beats N×M bespoke integrations.
Listed inTransport LayerModel Context Protocolon
stdio or streamable HTTP, at revision 2026-07-28, which removed sessions, GET streams and resumability. What moving off stdio forces you to add.
Listed inMCP ServerModel Context Protocolon
Tools are model-controlled, resources are application-controlled. That column decides which primitive a capability belongs to.
Listed inMCP HostModel Context Protocolon
The six responsibilities the specification gives the host, why one client per server is the isolation boundary, and what happens when a server asks you for a completion.
Listed inConnect to a Local ServerModel Context Protocolon
Connecting over stdio is a process launch, not a connection. Absolute paths, the rule against printing to stdout, and where the logs are.
Listed inBuilding an MCP ServerModel Context Protocolon
The input schema tells the model what to send as well as validating what arrives. Returning tools in a stable order protects callers' prompt caches, and an error that names the rule lets the model correct itself.
Listed inData LayerModel Context Protocolon
Tools, resources, and prompts — the three things a server can expose.
Listed inMCP ClientModel Context Protocolon
The per-server connection the host spawns to speak the protocol.
Listed inConnect to a Remote ServerModel Context Protocolon
Auth, transport, and trust when the server isn't on your machine.
Listed inModel Context Protocol (MCP)Model Context Protocolon
A standard wire format so tools work with any model host.
Listed inBuilding an MCP ClientModel Context Protocolon
Connecting, listing capabilities, and wiring calls into your own loop.