MCP·7 min read
MCP Servers: A Practical Primer
Model Context Protocol in plain English — and the three patterns that show up in every real deployment.
MCP Servers: A Practical Primer
MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets agents discover and call tools at runtime through a standard interface.
Why it matters
Before MCP, every tool integration was bespoke. With MCP, an agent connects to a server and asks "what can you do?" — then uses what fits.
Three patterns we see constantly
- Read-only data servers — a safe way to give an agent eyes on your data.
- Action servers — sending messages, creating records, calling APIs.
- Long-running task servers — agents kick off jobs and check back later.