# What is MCP?

> Model Context Protocol — how an AI assistant reaches GitHub, your database, your files and Slack.

- **Format:** short video, 8 steps, ~27 seconds
- **Topic:** What the Model Context Protocol is and why AI tools need it
- **Author:** Suthahar Jegatheesan (MSDEVBUILD)
- **Category:** Azure · Azure
- **Tags:** mcp, modelcontextprotocol, ai, aiagents, artificialintelligence, generativeai, llm, developer, softwareengineering, azure, github, msdevbuild
- **Canonical URL:** https://blog.msdevbuild.com/shorts/model-context-protocol-explained/

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## What you'll learn

- Why a model on its own cannot reach GitHub, SQL or Slack
- How an MCP client and server carry one request down and back
- Why M + N connectors beats M × N bespoke integrations

## Understand it one step at a time

### 1. AI can talk. It cannot reach your tools

A model answers from memory. It has no native route into GitHub, your database, your files or Slack.

### 2. Every tool speaks a different language

Seven tools, seven APIs, seven bespoke integrations — and every AI app has to build all of them again.

### 3. One protocol replaces all of them

MCP is a single open standard for how an AI app asks any tool for data, and how that tool answers.

### 4. Client on your side, server on the tool's

The AI app runs an MCP client. Each tool is wrapped by an MCP server. Requests go down, results come back up.

### 5. Watch a single request travel

Read my GitHub repository — the ask goes down the stack, and the repo data comes back up as an answer.

### 6. One prompt, many tools

Read today’s sales from SQL and post a summary to Slack — the model chains two MCP servers on its own.

### 7. Build once, connect everywhere

One MCP server per tool, reused by every AI app you ever ship. M + N connectors instead of M × N.

### 8. One protocol. Unlimited integrations

User, assistant, MCP client, MCP server, and every tool you already run — all on one open standard.

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## The takeaway

**MCP is the port every AI tool plugs into**

One open protocol between your assistant and GitHub, SQL, files, Slack, the browser, your calendar and Azure — write the connector once, reuse it everywhere.