# Model Context Protocol (MCP)

> An open protocol standardizing how AI assistants connect to external data sources and tools through a universal interface.

Category: Architecture

Source: https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary/mcp-protocol

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open-source protocol that standardizes how AI applications connect to external tools, data sources, and services. Developed by Anthropic and adopted across the AI industry, MCP creates a universal "plug and play" interface for AI tool use.

MCP solves the N*M integration problem: without it, N AI applications each need custom integrations with M tools, creating N*M connections. With MCP, each application implements the MCP client protocol once, each tool implements the MCP server protocol once, and any client works with any server.

Key MCP components: tools (functions the AI can call with typed parameters), resources (data sources the AI can read), prompts (pre-defined interaction templates), and transport (communication layer supporting stdio and HTTP/SSE).

Building an MCP server involves: defining tool schemas (name, description, parameters), implementing tool handlers (the code that executes when tools are called), and exposing them via the MCP transport protocol. Servers can be built in any language — TypeScript, Python, Go, and more.

For AI agent builders on Chipp, MCP powers Pro Actions. Builders can: connect to existing MCP servers (Asana, Fireflies, and a growing ecosystem), build custom MCP servers for proprietary tools, and give their agents the ability to take real actions in external systems during conversations — all through a standardized, well-documented protocol.

## Related Terms

- [MCP (Model Context Protocol)](https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary/mcp-model-context-protocol.md): An open protocol created by Anthropic that standardizes how AI assistants connect to external data sources and tools.
- [Function Calling](https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary/function-calling.md): The ability of AI models to identify when a conversation requires calling an external function or API, and to generate the structured parameters needed to make that call.
- [API](https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary/api.md): Application Programming Interface — a set of rules allowing different software applications to communicate and exchange data.
- [AI Agent Hooks](https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary/ai-agent-hooks.md): Event-driven callbacks that execute custom logic at specific points in an AI agent's lifecycle, such as before/after message processing or tool execution.

---

This term is part of the [Chipp AI Glossary](https://chipp.ai/ai/glossary), a reference of AI concepts written for builders and businesses.

Build AI agents with no code at https://chipp.ai.