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What is MCP?

MCP, the Model Context Protocol, is an open standard that lets AI like Claude and ChatGPT plug into the tools and facts your business already has.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Gemini
  • Copilot
MCPOne standard plug
  • Calendar
  • Email
  • Invoices
  • Sales
  • Business facts
MCP's own docs compare it to a USB-C port for AI: one standard way to connect. Build a connection once, and any AI app that speaks MCP can use it.

On its own, AI can only talk

Without connections, a chatbot knows only what it learned in training and what you paste into the chat. It can't open your calendar or look up an invoice.

To reach a tool, someone has to connect the two. Before MCP, every AI app did that its own way, one tool at a time.

“Every new data source requires its own custom implementation.”

Anthropic, launching MCP in November 2024
Without a standard

20custom integrations to build: 4 AI apps × 5 tools, each one built and kept working on its own.

With MCP
MCP

9integrations to build: 4 + 5. Each app and each tool adds MCP support once, and then any app can use any tool.

AI appsTools

With MCP, AI can look things up and do the work

Connect a tool once, and the AI can use it while you chat. You ask in plain words.

  • Look things up

    Your calendar, your invoices, your price list. The AI answers with today's real numbers instead of a guess.

  • Do things

    Send a reminder, book an appointment, update a record. You can require your OK before each one.

  1. You: Who hasn't paid us this month?

  2. Looked up unpaid invoices

    InvoicesRead only

  3. AI: Three invoices are unpaid, $1,880 in total. The oldest is 24 days late.

  4. You: Send each one a friendly reminder.

  5. Wants to send 3 emails

    Email

    Needs your OK

    DenyAllow

An example. The AI can only reach the tools you connect, and you decide which actions need your OK.

Three parts, in plain words

Every MCP connection has the same three pieces. The word in small print is what MCP calls each one.

  1. The AI app you talk to

    What MCP calls it: host

    Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot or another app that works with MCP.

  2. The connector

    What MCP calls it: client

    The app keeps one for each service you connect, like your calendar. It holds the line open to that service.

  3. The tool or data on the other side

    What MCP calls it: server

    It tells the AI what it offers: actions it can take, information it can read, and ready-made prompts.

AI app

Claude, for example

Connector

Calendar

Connector

Invoices

Connector

Your business facts

Many servers run on the internet, so adding one means pasting a link. Others run on your own computer.

What it looks like in a business

The same idea with different tools. Each one needs a connector for that tool, from its maker or from someone you trust.

  • A real estate agent handing house keys to a young couple.

    Sales

    You ask: “Which leads haven't heard from us in two weeks?”

    The AI reads your customer list and drafts a follow-up for each one. You send them.

  • Three salon staff at the front desk, looking at a tablet together.

    Calendar

    You ask: “Can we fit a color appointment on Thursday afternoon?”

    It checks your booking calendar and offers the open times. It books only with your OK.

  • A restaurant host on the phone at the front stand, with a full dining room behind her.

    Email

    You ask: “Answer this email about a party of 40 on Saturday.”

    It reads the email, checks your menu and how many people you can seat, and drafts a reply for you to review.

  • An AC technician servicing an outdoor unit on a balcony by the sea.

    Invoices

    You ask: “Who still owes us from September?”

    It lists the unpaid invoices from your invoicing app, with the total due.

  • A café owner working on her laptop behind the counter, with a colorful street outside.

    Your business facts

    You ask: “Are you open Sunday morning?”

    It answers from the hours you approved, not from an old web page. That's what MCP Team does.

    See where MCP Team fits ↓

Want AI wired into your own sales, calendar or invoices? Rabbithole designs and runs custom AI systems for businesses all over Puerto Rico. Talk to us →

Who supports it

MCP started at Anthropic, the company behind Claude. Today the biggest AI companies build on it, and an open foundation looks after it.

A short history

  1. November 2024

    Anthropic releases MCP as an open standard, with ready-made servers for tools like Google Drive, Slack and GitHub.

  2. May 2025

    Microsoft makes MCP generally available in Copilot Studio.

  3. December 2025

    Anthropic donates MCP to the new Agentic AI Foundation at the Linux Foundation, co-founded with Block and OpenAI, with support from Google, Microsoft, AWS, Cloudflare and Bloomberg. More than 10,000 public MCP servers are active.

  4. December 2025

    Google launches MCP servers for its own services, starting with Google Maps and BigQuery.

  5. July 2026

    A new version of the MCP spec comes out. Its main developer kits are downloaded close to half a billion times a month.

Where you can use it today

ClaudeAnthropic
Custom connectors on every plan. The free plan includes one.
ChatGPTOpenAI
Custom MCP servers, added as plugins.
Copilot StudioMicrosoft
The agents you build there can use MCP servers.
Gemini EnterpriseGoogle
Connects to MCP servers that your admin sets up.
VS Code and CursorFor developers
Coding assistants that use MCP servers.

Plans and menus change. Each app's help pages have the current steps.

Is it safe?

MCP is a way to connect, not a guarantee. Its security principles say an app must get your consent before the AI uses a tool, but the protocol can't enforce that on its own. So it comes down to three choices.

  1. What you connect

    Add connectors only from companies you trust. Anthropic and OpenAI both warn that they don't verify custom connectors.

  2. What each one can do

    A connector lists its tools, the actions it can take: turn off the ones you don't need. When a service asks you to sign in, say no if it wants more access than the job needs.

  3. When the AI must ask

    ChatGPT asks you to confirm actions that change something, but it relies on the connector to say which ones do. OpenAI warns that if a connector gets it wrong, a change can go through without your OK. In Claude, let a tool run without asking only if you trust it to run unsupervised.

Invoices

Connector · 4 tools

Example

  • Look up invoicesAllowed
  • Create an invoiceAsks you first
  • Send a payment reminderAsks you first
  • Delete an invoiceOff
Tools that only read run on their own. Anything that sends, pays or deletes asks first, or stays off.

One thing to know

Text the AI reads, like an email or a web page, can hide instructions meant to trick it. That's why anything that sends, pays or deletes should wait for your OK.

Where MCP Team fits

MCP Team is an MCP server for your business facts. Claude and ChatGPT read the facts you approved through one connector link. They can only suggest changes, and you approve every one.

  • It reads your website and drafts your facts: prices, hours, policies, contact details. You check each one.
  • Only facts you confirmed are shared with AI, never the ones you mark private.
  • When something changes, the AI suggests it. Nothing changes until you approve it, and the history keeps every old value.
  • Your link works like a password. If it ever leaks, make a new one and the old one stops working.
Start with your website ↓

Free for small businesses, no sign-up to start.

MCP Team

The tools Claude and ChatGPT see

  • get_profileReadsYour approved facts, by section
  • get_factReadsOne fact, like a price or a policy
  • list_upcomingReadsComing dates: events, classes, closures
  • search, fetchReadsThe same facts, the way ChatGPT looks them up
  • propose_changeSuggestsSaves a change for you to approve
No tool can change a fact. A suggestion waits in your dashboard until you approve it.

Questions people ask

Is MCP an Anthropic product?
Anthropic created it and released it as an open standard in November 2024. Since December 2025 it has been part of the Agentic AI Foundation at the Linux Foundation, and anyone can use it for free.
Is MCP the same as an API?
No. An API is one company's door into one product, and each one works its own way. MCP is one shared way for AI apps to find and use tools. Many MCP servers call a regular API behind the scenes.
Do I need to be technical?
Not to use it. Adding a connector means pasting a link (in Claude, under Customize > Connectors; in ChatGPT, under Plugins), and sometimes signing in to the tool. On team plans, an admin may have to add it first. Building your own MCP server is a developer's job.
Can the AI do things without asking me?
It depends on the app and your settings. MCP's security principles say an app must get your consent before a tool runs. ChatGPT asks you to confirm actions the connector says change something, and OpenAI warns a connector can get that wrong. In Claude, you choose which tools can run without asking, except in Research mode, where Claude can use your connectors' tools without asking each time.
What does MCP cost?
MCP itself is free and open source. The apps and tools you connect have their own prices. MCP Team is free for small businesses.
What's the difference between MCP and MCP Team?
MCP is the standard. MCP Team is one MCP server, made by Rabbithole, that holds your business's approved facts for Claude and ChatGPT.

Sources

Everything this page says about MCP comes from these pages, checked on October 22, 2026.

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