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PROTOCOLS ~15 min6 concepts · 5 quiz questions

MCP & A2A Protocols

Build and deploy MCP servers and A2A-compliant agent systems from scratch. The 2026 enterprise standard.

Overview

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) and Agent-to-Agent (A2A) protocol are the two emerging standards for AI interoperability in 2025-2026. MCP standardizes how LLMs connect to tools and data sources. A2A standardizes how agents communicate with each other. Together, they form the foundation for enterprise AI infrastructure.

Concept Flashcards

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Concept

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

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Explanation

Anthropic's MCP (2024) defines a standard interface for LLM tool access: Resources (data sources), Tools (functions the LLM calls), and Prompts (reusable prompt templates). Clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor) connect to MCP servers via stdio or HTTP/SSE transport.

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System Architecture

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MCP standardizes how LLMs connect to external tools and data. Clients (Cursor, Claude) connect to MCP Servers via stdio or HTTP+SSE transport using JSON-RPC 2.0.

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MCP PRIMITIVESinvokes toolsMCP requestMCP Client(Cursor / Claude)LLM HostJSON-RPC 2.0📁 File Server🗄 DB Server🔍 Search ServerResourcesToolsPrompts
MCP Client
MCP Server
Primitives
Transport (JSON-RPC)

Key Concepts

6 concepts — click to expand

Anthropic's MCP (2024) defines a standard interface for LLM tool access: Resources (data sources), Tools (functions the LLM calls), and Prompts (reusable prompt templates). Clients (Claude Desktop, Cursor) connect to MCP servers via stdio or HTTP/SSE transport.

Tech Stack

FastMCPA2A ProtocolLangChainLangGraphFastAPIPydanticAI
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