MCP Servers: The Missing Link Between AI Tools and Your APIs

MCP (Model Context Protocol) lets AI assistants like Claude and Cursor call your APIs directly. Instead of copying curl commands, your AI just calls the function. Here is how it works and why you should care. What is MCP? MCP is a protocol that connects AI tools to external services. Think of it as "plugins for AI" but with a standard interface. User → AI Assistant → MCP Server → Your API → Response → AI → User Instead of telling Claude "go to this URL and parse the JSON," you just ask it to do the task. The MCP server handles the API call. Setting Up an MCP Server 1.