MCP Overview
MCP is a standard connector layer between agents and the systems they need: files, tools, APIs, databases, SaaS apps, and internal services.
Start with the protocol’s core concepts, then learn how to design useful MCP servers and how gateway infrastructure helps when many teams, products, and agents share integrations.
In This Series
Section titled “In This Series”Where This Fits
Section titled “Where This Fits”- Use Skills for reusable procedures.
- Use Agent Workflow Patterns for how to work with coding agents.
- Use this section to understand the protocol and shared MCP architecture: server design, gateways, auth, routing, policy, observability, and integration reuse.
Core Idea
Section titled “Core Idea”MCP is useful because it standardizes how model-facing applications exchange context and capabilities.
At small scale, one app can connect directly to one MCP server. At organizational scale, direct connections can become hard to secure and operate. That is where shared infrastructure patterns, especially gateways, become useful.