The Model-Context-Protocol (MCP) is an open standard introduced by Anthropic in late 2024 to enable AI systems (like large language model agents) to seamlessly connect with external data sources and tools. This report provides a deep dive into MCP’s architecture and its role in agentic workflows – multi-step, tool-using AI “agents” that coordinate tasks. We will cover MCP’s core concepts, how to develop MCP-compliant agents (both client and server sides), strategies for orchestrating multiple MCP-based agents (coordination, conversation state management, and tool chaining), ensuring interoperability and schema compliance, and finally compare MCP’s approach to other leading agent frameworks (LangGraph, CrewAI, OpenDevin, AutoGen, etc.), evaluating compatibility, strengths, and limitations.
MCP Overview: MCP is not a programming framework or a single toolchain – it is a protocol (a