LinkList — Definition

What "MCP server" means

Facts on this page checked 2026-07-28

MCP server · noun

A program that provides tools and data to an AI application over the Model Context Protocol — an open standard for connecting AI applications to outside systems.

Word by word

Model: The large language model doing the work — Claude, GPT, Gemini, or any other.
Context: Everything the model can see while it answers. A model cannot use what is not in its context; the protocol exists to put the right things there.
Protocol: A fixed message format — JSON-RPC 2.0 — that both sides implement once. Any client that speaks it can use any server that speaks it.
Server: The program on the providing side. Despite the name, it is often a small process on the same laptop as the client.

Where the term comes from

Anthropic released the Model Context Protocol as an open standard in November 2024. The specification's own analogy is a USB-C port: one connector, many devices — one protocol, many tools. The term spread with the ecosystem: client support in Claude Code, Cursor and others, public registries, and thousands of published servers.

In a sentence

Add the Playwright MCP server and the agent can drive a browser.
These docs are served over an MCP server, so the model cites the page it used.
Is there an MCP server for Postgres?

Past the definition

How the pieces fit — hosts, clients, tools, transports, and a live session — is a short read:

MCP starter pack

Verified setup configs for every client.

Copy-paste configuration for Claude Code, Claude Desktop and Cursor, plus the eval harness so you can measure your own retrieval.

One email with the pack. No sequence.

Point your agent at sources you trust.

LinkList is a remote MCP server: your agent searches the collection you curated and answers with the URL and fetch date attached. Free tier, no card.