MCP 101

MCP servers moved from issuing tokens themselves to accepting them from external identity providers.

MCP adoption outpaced governance, leaving multi-agent systems with 41–87% production failure rates.

MCP solves the combinatorial integration problem that makes APIs impractical at scale.

MCP enables AI agents to discover and use tools at runtime without pre-programmed integrations.

The MCP ecosystem exploded from 100 servers to over 21,000 in eighteen months.

The spec now enforces OAuth security, structured tool outputs, and user-gating within sessions.

Production agents require memory, tools, and coordination layers beyond the model itself.

Autonomous agents amplify API vulnerabilities because they operate unsupervised across sessions.