Glossary · MCP

MCP server

An MCP server is a program that exposes tools, resources, and prompts to AI agents over the Model Context Protocol. Each tool carries a name, a description, and an input schema the agent uses to decide when and how to call it. An agent typically connects to several servers at once.

Servers range from official first-party integrations to single-file community projects, and an agent extends the same protocol-level trust to all of them. The description and schema a server publishes are rendered into the model's context, which is why a malicious server is not just a bad dependency but a voice inside the agent's reasoning. Vetting servers, screening their schemas, and governing their calls are distinct controls; conflating them is how gaps happen.

Related

Shrike governs AI agent actions in real time: every command, query, and tool call evaluated against policy before it executes. Watch an agent get refused in the playground, where every tool call is scanned for real, or read what is action governance.