MCP (Model Context Protocol): What It Is and How It Changes App Development
Before MCP, connecting an AI model to an external tool (database, API) required custom code for every case. MCP unifies that connection into one standard.
unified protocol instead of dozens of custom integrations
sides of an MCP connection: the tool server and the AI client
custom integration code needed per new MCP-supporting tool
MCP is an open protocol developed by Anthropic to be a "common language" between AI models and any external tool or data source — instead of building a separate custom integration for every tool (database, file system, external API).
How It Works in Practice
An "MCP server" exposes a set of tools in a standardized format, and any MCP-aware AI client (like Claude) connects to it without writing custom integration code for each tool from scratch.
A Real Example from This Project
Connecting Supabase to Claude Code via a dedicated Supabase MCP server lets the model run SQL queries and manage the database directly during a conversation — without writing a separate script for every operation.
Questions & Answers
Is MCP limited to Claude only?
It started at Anthropic but is an open protocol, and other tools and platforms have begun supporting it or shipping their own MCP servers.
Is building an MCP server hard?
Not necessarily — a simple MCP server exposing one or two tools can be built quickly; complexity grows mainly as the number and sensitivity of tools grows.
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