What are hosts, clients, and servers in MCP?medium

Type
conceptual
Topic
host-client-server
Frequency
common
Tags
mcp, architecture
Answer

The host is the AI application, the client manages one connection to a server, and the server exposes tools, resources, and prompts.

Explanation

A host can run multiple clients at once, each talking to a different server. This separation lets one host connect to many independent tool providers without custom glue code per provider.

Follow-upWhy does a host need one client per server instead of one shared client?