---
schema: 1
type: term
title: '**MCP** (Model Context Protocol)'
description: >-
  **MCP** (Model Context Protocol) is a standard protocol layer that lets AI
  agents connect to external tools, APIs, and data sources — described in this
  material as the **HTTP of the agentic web**
  [^eea0a522-b6b8-5472-bf62-08b0a42ab8a3@326] and as an **SDK for LLMs**: the
  convenient, uniform way a model interfaces with an API.
  [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@536]
canonical: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/mcp-model-context-protocol-45258895bb3c
markdown: >-
  https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/mcp-model-context-protocol-45258895bb3c.md
llms: null
parent: 'https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt'
channel: everyinc
updated: '2026-10-23T22:12:35.346Z'
language: null
children: []
---


# \*\*MCP\*\* (Model Context Protocol)

Canonical: https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/explore/term/mcp-model-context-protocol-45258895bb3c

Parent: [Channel index](https://liquidgold.cc/channel/everyinc/llms.txt)

## Definition

**MCP** (Model Context Protocol) is a standard protocol layer that lets AI agents connect to external tools, APIs, and data sources — described in this material as the **HTTP of the agentic web** [^eea0a522-b6b8-5472-bf62-08b0a42ab8a3@326] and as an **SDK for LLMs**: the convenient, uniform way a model interfaces with an API. [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@536]

## MCP as the connective layer of the agentic web In the channel's material, **MCP (Model Context Protocol)** appears wherever the question is _how agents reach tools, APIs, and data_. Microsoft CTO **Kevin Scott** frames it as the protocol of the agentic web: MCP plays the role that **HTTP** plays on the internet, while Anthropic's **NLWeb** aims to be the moral equivalent of **HTML** — simple, open protocols that layer together. [^eea0a522-b6b8-5472-bf62-08b0a42ab8a3@326] Scott is also pushing for every internal Microsoft system to speak a standard agent protocol, so that team boundaries (Conway's law) don't leak into agent architecture. [^eea0a522-b6b8-5472-bf62-08b0a42ab8a3@423]   ## An SDK for LLMs — and why it is hard **Alex Rattray** of Stainless gives the developer-facing framing: SDKs (think `pip install stripe`) give humans a convenient way to interface with an API — so what gives **LLMs** that convenience? MCP is the obvious answer, but as it rolls out, in his telling, it isn't working so great. [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@536] The failure mode is the **context window**: translating a large API one-to-one into MCP tools — Stripe exposes hundreds of endpoints — burns hundreds of thousands of tokens _before any real work starts_. [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@871] [^ea9761fa-0184-555e-be30-4928a6682680@919] Rattray's design rules: keep tools few, names and descriptions precise, schemas small, and trim responses with a **JQ filter**. [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@1346]   ## Where MCP shows up in practice - **Security location**: Rattray argues limiting what MCP exposes is the wrong lever — anything in the underlying API remains reachable — so security must live at the **API layer** with OAuth scopes, not at the MCP layer. [^913c216d-5ccb-51d9-8f42-8feb7c017d9d@2454]  - **Concurrent interaction**: In the Granola conversation, Dan Shipper's view is that **MCP alone isn't enough** — historically it lets an agent interact with an app _instead of_ the user, while the emerging paradigm is agent and user taking turns on the same live interface. - **Everyday adoption**: Andrew Wilkinson calls MCPs still early — some integrations slow — but sees them as a 'tentacle monster that touches all of your software' inside Claude Code.  - MCP is the standard protocol layer connecting agents to tools, APIs, and data — Scott calls it the **HTTP of the agentic web**; Rattray calls it an **SDK for LLMs**. - Naive MCP design fails at scale: hundreds of API endpoints become hundreds of thousands of tokens of context cost; keep tools few, descriptions precise, and schemas small. - Security belongs at the **API layer** (OAuth, granular scopes), not at the MCP layer, per Rattray. - In practice, MCP is treated as necessary but not sufficient — Granola's pattern requires MCP **plus** shared live interface state, and adopters describe integrations that are still maturing.