overview

What is an MCP?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open standard, created by Anthropic in November 2024, that standardizes how AI assistants (Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and so on) connect to external data and tools — databases, APIs, files, internal systems.

The most common analogy is a "USB-C port for AI applications": instead of every assistant needing a bespoke integration with every tool, they all speak the same protocol. You just plug in an MCP server and the assistant gains access to whatever that server exposes.

What it's for

• Give the assistant up-to-date context — instead of answering only with what it learned during training, the model queries the real source (your ERP, your repository, your log store) at answer time.
• Take actions — open tickets, list orders, check stock, trigger pipelines, all through natural language.
• Reuse integrations — the same MCP server works in any compatible client (Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, etc.).

How it works (in one line)

An MCP server publishes a set of tools (named functions with their parameters). The MCP client (the assistant) discovers those tools at handshake time, and the model decides — for each user request — which one to call and with what arguments. You don't need to write any code.

Disclaimer: MCP is a relatively new protocol (v1 stable since 2025) and is still evolving fast. Not every client implements every part of the spec; check each assistant's official docs before assuming a specific feature works.

Official references

• Official spec site: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/
• Documentation & guides: https://modelcontextprotocol.io/docs
• Technical specification (latest): https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification
• GitHub repository (spec + official SDKs): https://github.com/modelcontextprotocol
• Anthropic's original announcement (Nov 2024): https://www.anthropic.com/news/model-context-protocol
• MCP guide in Claude Code: https://docs.claude.com/en/docs/claude-code/mcp
• Claude Desktop Connectors (visual UI): https://support.anthropic.com/en/articles/10065433-installing-claude-for-desktop
• MCP in ChatGPT (Connectors): https://help.openai.com/en/articles/11487775-connectors-in-chatgpt
• MCP in Gemini CLI: https://github.com/google-gemini/gemini-cli
• MCP in Codex CLI: https://github.com/openai/codex

MCP server catalog

Server	What it exposes	How to configure
ANYMARKET MCP	Natural-language queries against ANYMARKET: products, SKUs, stock, prices, orders, categories, brands, images, marketplaces, callbacks and more (100+ commands, read-only for now).	Single URL https://mcp.anymarket.com.br/mcp — pluggable into Claude Code, Claude Desktop (via UI or JSON), ChatGPT Connectors, Codex CLI and Gemini CLI. Step-by-step in anymarket-mcp.md.