Model Context Protocol (MCP)
The Model Context Protocol, or MCP, is an open-source standard that lets AI applications like Claude and ChatGPT connect to data sources, tools and workflows outside themselves. Its documentation compares it to a USB-C port for AI. Anthropic introduced it in November 2024 and gave it to the Linux Foundation's new Agentic AI Foundation in December 2025.
Source: Model Context Protocol documentation, What is the Model Context Protocol (MCP)?, checked October 29, 2026
What Model Context Protocol (MCP) means for your business
A website is something an AI tool reads. An MCP server is something it can use. The MCP docs give examples like an AI agent reaching someone's Google Calendar and Notion, and say MCP lets AI tools take actions for the user when needed. The same docs list support in Claude, ChatGPT, Visual Studio Code and Cursor.
We'd only suggest one when buyers want to do something with you inside a chat, like check stock or book a time. That's our view, and the answer depends on the business.
An MCP server can act on a person's behalf, so we'd treat it like any other door into your systems. The MCP docs include a security guide, and we'd want any server your developers build to follow it, with only the permissions the job needs.
If you want AI agents to book, buy or look things up with you directly, working out how agents should reach your business covers when an MCP server is worth building.
Last reviewed October 29, 2026. All terms
How AI answers it today
On October 29, 2026, Google's AI Overview cited the MCP docs, Anthropic, Wikipedia, Google Cloud, IBM and developer blogs, and called it Anthropic's standard without the Linux Foundation move. ChatGPT searched first, then linked the official docs, GitHub and OpenAI's developer docs.
Our run through ChatGPT and Google's AI Overview, October 29, 2026. A sample, not what every buyer sees.
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