MCP Server
A program that implements the Model Context Protocol to expose tools, resources, or prompts to Claude and other AI assistants.
An MCP server is a small program — typically tens to hundreds of lines of code — that runs locally as a child process of Claude Desktop / Claude Code or as a remote HTTP service. It speaks JSON-RPC over stdin/stdout (stdio transport) or over Server-Sent Events (HTTP transport).
When the AI client launches, it reads its config (claude_desktop_config.json on Claude Desktop, .claude/settings.json on Claude Code), connects to each registered server, and asks 'what can you do?'. The server responds with a list of tools, resources and prompts it provides, each with a JSON Schema describing its parameters.
Common server categories: API wrappers (Slack, GitHub, Notion, Linear), database connectors (Postgres, Redis, SQLite), local resources (filesystem, shell, browser), and infrastructure tooling (Docker, Kubernetes, AWS). ClaudeWave indexes 1.990+ open-source MCP servers ranked by stars and Trust Score.