SECAI Core · phase 5 of 15 · noun
Model context protocol
AI systems, agents, and tools to share data about memory, goals, and intermediate results, enabling multi-agent systems, orchestration frameworks, or AI assistants to coordinate seamlessly
The Explain card
- Plain English
- Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a standard way for AI systems, agents and tools to share context such as memory, goals and intermediate results, so assistants and multi-agent frameworks can coordinate.
- Example
- A coding assistant connects to an MCP server that exposes the file system and a database. The assistant can now list tables and read files on request, which is powerful, and also means a compromised MCP server can feed poisoned data or over-broad capabilities straight into the agent.
- Why it matters
- MCP turns models into actors with tools. Defenders need to inventory MCP servers, restrict their permissions, and treat their outputs as untrusted input.
- Hook
- MCP is the USB port for AI agents: handy, standard, and worth checking before you plug anything in.
Word knowledge
How the word is built, where it came from, and what it sits beside in memory.
In a sentence
The coding assistant lists files through a model context protocol server, then reads a source file before it proposes a patch.
Why these words
- model French modèle, from Italian modello, from Latin modulus, a small measure, diminutive of modus, measure supplies the trained-stand-in half, so the handshake hangs on a copy rather than a person
- context Latin contextus, a weaving together, from contexere, to weave together names the surrounding working state, so the handshake is about what sits around the request
- protocol Medieval Latin protocollum, from Greek prōtokollon, first glued sheet, from prōtos, first, and kolla, glue names the agreed speaking order, so the phrase claims a shared rule rather than a private arrangement
Where it came from
- Origin
- English computing coinage by Anthropic, modelled on Language Server Protocol, from French modèle (Latin modulus, a small measure), Latin contextus (a weaving together), and Greek prōtokollon (first glued sheet)
- Entered the language
- 2024
- What changed
- Model had meant a small measure, then a miniature to copy, then a mathematical stand-in, then a trained network. Context had meant a weaving together, then the surrounding text that decides a word's sense, then the working state a program carries. Protocol had meant the first sheet glued to a manuscript, then diplomatic etiquette, then the rules two machines agree to speak. Anthropic joined the three in 2024, after Language Server Protocol, as a name for a handshake a model uses to borrow another program's working state.
How it is spelled
- Pattern
- Latin modulus drops the u in English model
- Pattern
- Latin x from texere stays x in context
- Pattern
- Greek proto- stays proto- in English compounds, never first-
- Breaks the pattern
- the noun phrase stays three words; a hyphen appears only when the stack modifies another noun
- Breaks the pattern
- protocol keeps one l, while Italian protocollo, from the same Greek sheet, doubles it
- Breaks the pattern
- English model dropped the accent from French modèle, and keeps one l where German Modell doubles it
Spelled like
- module
- modest
- pretext
- prototype
Broken into chunks
-
mod
- modest
- modify
- module
-
con
- connect
- contain
- confer
-
text
- textile
- texture
- pretext
-
proto
- prototype
- proton
- protoplasm
-
col
- collage
- collagen
- colloid
What it sits beside
Same subject
Same shape
- language server protocol
- transmission control protocol
- hypertext transfer protocol
- file transfer protocol
Ways into a model
Three-word protocol names
- language server protocol
- transmission control protocol
- hypertext transfer protocol
Model compounds
Where it sits in the deck
Phase 5: Interacting with Models: Prompting, APIs, and Retrieval
With a working model and clean data, learn the interaction layer — how users and systems communicate instructions and retrieve grounded answers.
