# MCP

> MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open protocol that connects applications built on large language models with external data sources and tools.

Original page: https://t10.de/en/glossary/mcp
Publisher: total10 GmbH, https://t10.de/en/glossary

The [MCP specification](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28) describes three roles. The host is the AI application that opens the connections. Clients are the connectors inside that application. Servers are the services that supply data and functions. A server can offer resources (data and background information for the user or the AI model), prompts (ready-made messages and workflows for users) and tools (functions the AI model can execute). This lets a business application give an AI agent a defined set of tools.

In December 2025 the [official MCP project blog](https://blog.modelcontextprotocol.io/posts/2025-12-09-mcp-joins-agentic-ai-foundation/) announced that MCP would become a founding project of the Agentic AI Foundation, which is set up under the Linux Foundation. According to the post, the Linux Foundation provides neutral infrastructure so that the people who maintain MCP can work independently, and it will not dictate MCP's technical direction.

When a project calls for it, we connect tools and data through MCP. On a knowledge platform for a pharmaceutical logistics client, our analysis software connects through an MCP server we built specifically for it, with a fixed set of eight tools. A large model plans the work, and a smaller one handles all communication with the platform through that server.

## See also

- [AI agent](https://t10.de/en/glossary/ai-agent): An AI agent is a software system, built on a large language model, that carries out actions on its own and uses interfaces to other programs to reach its goal.
- [API](https://t10.de/en/glossary/api): An API (application programming interface) is a defined set of functions and rules that lets one piece of software use the features or data of another system or service.
- [Interface](https://t10.de/en/glossary/interface): An interface is the point at which two systems, programs or components meet and exchange data; the word also covers the user interface between a person and software.
- [Business application](https://t10.de/en/glossary/business-application): In general terms, a business application is software used to perform or support business functions.

## Where the term appears

- [Custom AI agents for businesses](https://t10.de/en/ai-agents)
- [Out of the inbox: a knowledge platform for a pharma logistics provider](https://t10.de/en/blog/knowledge-platform-pharma)

## Sources

1. [Specification, Version 2026-07-28](https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2026-07-28), Model Context Protocol (Projekt der LF Projects, LLC), accessed 2026-11-07
2. [MCP joins the Agentic AI Foundation (9. Dezember 2025)](https://blog.modelcontextprotocol.io/posts/2025-12-09-mcp-joins-agentic-ai-foundation/), Model Context Protocol Blog (offizielles Projektblog), accessed 2026-11-07