Definition
Plain language
A standard way for AI agents to call external tools and get structured results back.
As stated in the literature
A 2024 standard that defines how LLM agents invoke external tools and consume their structured responses in agentic systems.
Also called: MCP
Why it matters: A shared protocol means any compliant agent can use any compliant tool, instead of every pair needing a custom integration.
For example, an agent uses MCP to call a calendar tool and receives a structured list of upcoming events back.
Heard on the show
“It's called the Model Context Protocol — MCP — and it was standardized in twenty-twenty-four.”Episode 039 — When Smarter Agents Get Fooled by Three Extra Nodes in a Database