MCP (Model Context Protocol) is an open standard, originally from Anthropic, through which AI agents access external data, tools and actions in a structured way. An MCP server exposes these resources — a product catalog, a knowledge base or callable functions — so an agent queries and uses them reliably instead of guessing content from HTML. MCP is thus a unified adapter between AI models and the outside world.
Until now every AI integration was a special case with its own interface. MCP standardizes how models discover and call data and tools — comparable to what USB did for peripherals: one connector for many devices instead of a separate one for each.
For providers that means: build one MCP server instead of maintaining a separate connection for every AI client.
It offers the agent resources (readable data), tools (callable actions with clearly defined parameters) and prompts. The agent first asks what is available, then calls exactly what fits.
The responses are structured rather than prose — so the agent can process them reliably, for example take over a price or trigger a booking.
To make their own data agent-ready: the shop catalog for buying agents, the internal knowledge base for support assistants, booking or inventory functions for processes.
This makes content and workflows usable for AI without re-integrating for every vendor — a building block of the agent-ready (AI-ready) website.
Anthropic introduced MCP as an open standard in late 2024. It is open source and is now supported by several AI vendors and tools.
Schema.org makes a website readable and citable. MCP goes further: it lets an agent query specifically and trigger actions — useful for catalogs, bookings and transactions.
No. Even a compact MCP server for a product catalog or an FAQ can make a small shop or service provider visible and usable for agents.