What is the Model Context Protocol and how does it standardize agent tool integration?

The Model Context Protocol or MCP is an open standard for connecting AI agents to external data sources and tools. It provides a standardized interface between AI applications and the systems they need to access, similar to how USB standardized device connections. MCP defines a client-server architecture where the AI application is the client and each data source or tool provider is a server. Servers expose capabilities through a defined schema that clients can discover and invoke. This means a single agent can connect to any MCP-compatible server without custom integration code. The protocol supports resource access for reading data, tool invocation for performing actions, and prompt templates for standardized interaction patterns. Benefits include write-once integrations that work with any MCP-compatible AI application, standardized authentication and authorization, consistent error handling, and a growing ecosystem of pre-built MCP servers for popular services. Anthropic developed MCP and it is gaining adoption across the AI industry.