Reference

MCP glossary

4 exam-critical terms in the MCP category. See all categories →

AllAPIAgenticPromptClaude CodeTool DesignMCPContext

MCP

MCP

Model Context Protocol. Standard protocol connecting AI applications to external systems. Think 'USB-C for AI.' JSON-RPC based.

Host / client / server

MCP

Host = the AI app the user opens (Claude Desktop). Client = connector inside the host that speaks MCP. Server = external process exposing tools/resources/prompts.

stdio transport

MCP

Transport for local MCP servers running as subprocesses. Communication via stdin/stdout as JSON-RPC. Easy to ship, no network.

Streamable HTTP

MCP

Current preferred transport for remote MCP servers per the 2025-06-18 spec. SSE is being deprecated for new deployments.