Concept

Model Context Protocol

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol that lets AI clients (Claude Desktop, claude.ai, Claude Code) connect to external **tools and data** through a standard interface. A client speaks MCP to a **server**; the server exposes tools the model can call.

type conceptstatus activemcp · ai · protocol

Key points

  • Transports: stdio (local), and HTTP/SSE or streamable-HTTP (remote).
  • Remote MCP lets a hosted client (claude.ai) reach a server over the internet, typically gated by OAuth 2.1.
  • The model is driven by the client; the MCP server doesn't call the LLM itself.

Details

For OAuth-protected remote servers, the client discovers /.well-known/oauth-*, dynamically registers, and obtains a bearer token bound to a resource (RFC 8707). A multi-connector gateway binds that resource per connector ({base}/proxy/<name>).

Firney-MCP-BrokerTool-UseAgents-and-Workflows

Sources

  • 2026-06-28-claude-course
Compiled from wiki/concepts/Model-Context-Protocol.md · git is the source of truth