Topic overview
Learn the host-client-server model, the tools/resources/prompts primitives a server exposes, transport choice (stdio, HTTP/SSE), capability discovery, and how MCP replaces custom per-integration glue code.
Core concepts
Hosts (the AI application), clients (one per server connection), servers (expose tools, resources, and prompts), JSON-RPC messaging, capability negotiation, and transport selection.
Why it matters
Without a shared protocol, every model-to-tool integration is custom and brittle — MCP turns an N×M integration problem into N+M, so a tool built once works across any compliant host.
Interview relevance
Expect questions about how MCP differs from a plain function-calling API, why standardization matters at scale, and how to reason about trust and permissions when a host connects to third-party servers.