Model Context Protocol (MCP): A Developer’s Guide to Long-Context LLM Integration


Large Language Models (LLMs) like Anthropic’s Claude have unlocked massive context windows (up to 100k tokens in Claude 2) that let them consider entire documents or codebases in a single go. However, effectively providing relevant context to these models remains a challenge. Traditionally, developers have resorted to complex prompt engineering or retrieval pipelines to feed external information into an LLM’s prompt. Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol (MCP) is a new open standard designed to simplify and standardize this process. Think of MCP as the “USB-C for AI applications” – a universal connector that lets your LLM seamlessly access external data, tools, and