infrastructure
Model Context Protocol (MCP)
by Anthropic
Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard for connecting AI applications and agents to external tools, data sources, and workflows via a client-server architecture. Using JSON-RPC 2.0 over stdio or Streamable HTTP transports, it defines primitives for Tools, Resources, and Prompts that any MCP-compatible host (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, VS Code Copilot, and more) can discover and invoke. Originally created by Anthropic and launched in November 2024, it was donated to the Linux Foundation's Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) in December 2025 and has grown to 500+ public servers and 97M+ monthly SDK downloads.
9 Overall Score
Scores
Capability 9
Ease of Use 7
Documentation 9
Reliability 8
Value 10
Momentum 10
Details
- Status
- active
- Pricing
- open-source
- Launch Date
- Website
- https://modelcontextprotocol.io/
- Last Updated
Key Features
- Standardised Tools/Resources/Prompts primitives for AI agent tool use
- Dual transport support: stdio (local) and Streamable HTTP (remote/SSE)
- Broad ecosystem adoption: Claude, ChatGPT, VS Code Copilot, Cursor, Windsurf and more
- 500+ public MCP servers; 97M+ monthly SDK downloads as of late 2025
- Donated to Linux Foundation AAIF (December 2025) — open governance, multi-vendor stewardship