AI engineering glossary · Agents tools MCP
What is MCP transport?
MCP transport: The channel over which MCP messages travel between client and server. The specification defines standard input and output for local servers and an HTTP-based transport for remote ones, and messages are the same whichever is used.
MCP transport: an example
A local file server runs as a subprocess using stdio, while a hosted CRM server is reached over HTTP.
Related terms
More Agents tools MCP terms
- Memory consolidation
- Memory retrieval
- Model Context Protocol
- Model routing
- Multi-agent system
- OpenAI Agents SDK
- Orchestrator-worker pattern
- Parallelisation pattern
Where you learn it
MCP transport is part of the AI Engineering Program, which teaches it with notes, a hands-on lab and an exam. The first lesson is free.