# Model Context Protocol (MCP)

> The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets editors and coding agents connect to external tools through a common interface.

The Model Context Protocol is an open standard that lets AI applications, such as editors and coding agents, connect to external tools and data through a common interface. A server exposes tools with typed inputs, and any client that supports MCP can call them.

For example, an MCP server for a database might expose a tool named `list_tables` and a tool named `run_query` with one input, a SQL string. An editor that supports MCP starts the server, asks it which tools it offers and makes them available to its AI model. When the model decides to call `list_tables`, the editor sends the call to the server, gets the result and passes it back to the model as part of the conversation. The same server works with any client that speaks the protocol.

MCP servers can run locally, started by the client as a separate process that talks over standard input and output, or remotely over HTTP. Besides tools, a server can offer resources, such as files or records the model can read, and prompts, which are templates the user can pick. Because the client's model sees tool results, anything a tool returns, such as table names or sample rows, goes to the client's model provider.

MCP separates two concerns: the client owns the model and the conversation, and the server owns access to a system and the rules for using it. That lets a team keep one well-tested integration with a data platform and use it from several editors. See also [bring your own key](https://emolysis.com/glossary/byok) and the [integrations](https://emolysis.com/integrations) page.

The protocol is open, with a published specification and software development kits in several languages, so servers and clients from different vendors can work together. See also [coding agent](https://emolysis.com/glossary/coding-agent).

Emolysis includes an MCP server, `emo mcp`, so that any editor or coding agent that supports MCP can use the same commands as the Emolysis app. See [The MCP server](https://emolysis.com/docs/mcp-server) for tool names and sign-in, and [Editors and coding agents](https://emolysis.com/docs/editors). A [coding agent](https://emolysis.com/glossary/coding-agent) sends tool results to its own model provider.

---

Page: https://emolysis.com/glossary/mcp. Emolysis is a product of Bandpey GmbH, Munich, Germany. It is in private development, and nothing is released yet.