Model Context Protocol (MCP)
Open protocol for LLM clients to talk to external tools and data sources. The 'USB-C for AI' that became the default in 2026 — supported by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind, with 500+ public MCP servers covering GitHub, Slack, Postgres, Stripe, Figma, Docker, Kubernetes, and 200+ more. Major clients: Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Goose CLI. Works with any LLM that supports function calling, including local Ollama models.
Overview
Open protocol for LLM clients to talk to external tools and data sources. The 'USB-C for AI' that became the default in 2026 — supported by Anthropic, OpenAI, and Google DeepMind, with 500+ public MCP servers covering GitHub, Slack, Postgres, Stripe, Figma, Docker, Kubernetes, and 200+ more. Major clients: Claude Desktop, Cursor, Windsurf, Goose CLI. Works with any LLM that supports function calling, including local Ollama models.
Pros
- Open standard — no vendor lock-in
- 500+ public servers as of early 2026
- Backed by all three major frontier labs
- Works with local LLMs (Ollama, Qwen)
Cons
- Permissioning/auth still maturing
- Quality of community servers varies
- Adds a network round-trip per tool call
Compatibility
| Operating systems | macOS Linux Windows |
| GPU backends | n/a (protocol) |
| License | Open source · free (open standard) |
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Frequently asked
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