What is MCP?

MCP is the USB Interface for Agents

Before MCP, every time you wanted an AI to connect to a new tool (like GitHub), developers had to write custom integration code for each AI platform. It was like every device needing its own proprietary charging cable—messy and inefficient.

MCP is USB-C: As long as the MCP protocol is followed, any AI model can connect to any MCP Server, and any tool only needs to implement the MCP interface once.

💡 In a nutshell: MCP is the standardized plug for AI to communicate with the outside world.

How MCP Works

When you ask Claude, "Check the open issues on GitHub":

Claude recognizes the need to use the GitHub tool

Calls the GitHub MCP Server via the MCP protocol

The Server queries data using the GitHub API

Returns structured results to Claude

Claude answers you in natural language

Why MCP Matters

Before: Fragmentation

Each tool required separate integration

Different AI platforms were incompatible with each other

Security was hard to guarantee

After MCP: Standardization

Implement once, use everywhere

Cross-platform: supported by Claude, GPT, Gemini

Permission control: fine-grained tool access authorization

Currently Most Popular MCP Servers

filesystem: Read and write local files (official)

github: Full GitHub operations (official)

brave-search: Real-time web search (official)

notion: Read and write Notion knowledge bases

puppeteer: Control a browser (official)