Model Context Protocol (MCP)

The open standard that connects AI apps to tools and data — hosts/clients/servers over JSON-RPC, the server primitives (tools, resources, prompts) and client primitives (sampling, roots, elicitation, tasks), transports (stdio & Streamable HTTP), the initialize lifecycle, OAuth 2.1 auth, and security. Concept decks + a practice exam + browser-graded config & message drills.