Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source protocol created by Anthropic to provide a standard way of connecting AI clients with data sources that often sit behind corporate firewalls or private data storage solutions.
Instead of building and maintaining different RAG connectors for purpose-built AI applications, an open standard on how applications provide context to LLMs greatly simplifies the process, improves AI response quality and system reliability, and reduces development costs.
As of December 2024, Anthropic’s Claude Desktop App can support local MCP servers. In addition to integrations built by Anthropic and contributed by the open-source community, many companies and tools have adopted MCP to make their systems available to AI clients.
References
- Anthropic.com. (2024). Introducing the Model Context Protocol. [online] Available at: https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol.