What is an MCP server?
An MCP server is a program that exposes tools, data and prompts to an AI assistant over the Model Context Protocol, an open standard Anthropic published in November 2024. The assistant discovers what the server can do and calls it, so one integration works across every MCP-capable client rather than being wired per app.
How is an MCP server different from a normal API?
A normal API expects a developer to read the docs and write the calls. An MCP server describes itself to the model at runtime: names, arguments and descriptions for each tool. The assistant reads that description and decides what to call. You integrate once with the protocol instead of once per assistant.
The Model Context Protocol was released as an open standard by Anthropic in November 2024 and is now supported by multiple AI coding clients including Claude Code and Cursor. Source: Anthropic MCP announcement, November 2024
What do MCP servers actually do?
They give an assistant hands. An MCP server can read a database, search internal documents, call a payments API, control a browser, or manage infrastructure. Each capability is exposed as a named tool with typed arguments, and the assistant chooses between them the same way a developer picks a function.
- Local servers run on your machine over stdio and talk to a local client.
- Remote servers run over HTTP and need a public HTTPS URL, which means real hosting.
- A remote server is a long-lived process, so it needs a machine that stays up rather than a function that scales to zero.
Where do you host a remote MCP server?
Anywhere that gives you a persistent process on a public HTTPS URL. A pod fits directly: Node.js 20 or Python 3.12 already installed, a certificate issued for you, and SSH access when you need to debug what the assistant actually sent. InstaPods also runs its own MCP server so assistants can create and manage pods.
Where mcp server shows up on InstaPods
Related terms
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