Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol—originally developed by Anthropic—that standardizes how AI agents communicate with external systems (Zoho MCP Help Documentation, April 4, 2026). It defines:
- Tools: Discrete callable functions that an AI agent can discover and invoke
- Context: Structured metadata passed with each invocation
- Resources: Data or endpoints exposed by the server
- Transport: Communication layer (typically HTTP/SSE or stdio for local servers)
MCP remote servers (like Zoho MCP) use OAuth 2.1 for authorization. MCP clients (Claude, Cursor, etc.) connect to MCP servers by URL, discover available tools automatically, and invoke them with structured parameters—without requiring the user to know API endpoints or write code.