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What is MCP?
Last reviewed July 16, 2026
MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard for connecting AI applications to tools and data sources. A service exposes its capabilities once as an MCP server; any MCP client (a chat app, an agent, an editor) can then discover and call those capabilities, replacing per-app custom integrations with one protocol.
How it works
An MCP server declares tools (actions with typed inputs), resources (data the client can read), and prompts. The client lists what a server offers and calls it over a standard transport. The model never sees protocol details; it sees tools it can use, and the client handles discovery, invocation, and permissions.
Why it matters
Before MCP, every AI app integrated every service separately, so capability was gated on integration budgets. With MCP, a tool built once works in every compatible client, and switching AI applications stops meaning losing your integrations. It is doing for AI tools what HTTP did for documents: one protocol, many clients.
idapt is an MCP server: connect Claude Code, editors, or any MCP client to your workspace and reach your files, agents, chats, and computers through the standard protocol.
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