What is an MCP server?
A program that exposes tools, resources, prompts, and notifications to AI applications through the Model Context Protocol's standardized interfaces.
Why is this important?
MCP servers reduce custom integration work and create a clear security boundary between an AI application and external systems.
How it works
A host creates a client connection, negotiates capabilities, discovers tools or resources, sends JSON-RPC requests over a transport, and returns results to model context.
Technical example
A CRM MCP server exposes search-customer, create-task, and get-conversation tools plus customer-record resources to a compatible host.
Implementation notes
Use explicit JSON Schemas, least-privilege authorization, OAuth metadata, validation, bounded results, stable names, audit logs, and version negotiation.
Sources
https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/learn/architecturehttps://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs/learn/server-concepts
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