0:01Let's see where the name "Model Context Protocol" comes from.
0:04It's just three words. Let's take them one at a time.
0:07The first word is "model".
0:09This one just means the language model itself, not the app around it.
0:13It's the first word because the model is who the whole protocol serves, everything MCP delivers ends up here.
0:19But the model doesn't always have the information a question needs. It knows what it was trained on, and what's in the prompt. Anything else has to be given to it.
0:28The second word is "context", and it's about what we give it. Let's go back to our assistant.
0:32The answers people actually want from it are usually somewhere else.
0:36In your documents, for a start.
0:38In the company database, customer records, order history, everything behind a login.
0:44And out on the network, in the services your team already uses.
0:47All of that is "context", the information and capabilities around the app that the model may need.
0:53Ask about an order, and the app fetches the record and hands it to the model, right when it's needed.
0:59Every one of those fetches is our app talking to another program. That's where the third word comes in.
1:05The last word is "protocol". It's about how that conversation between two programs works.
1:10So take any two programs that need to talk to each other.
1:13Connecting them isn't enough. Both sides have to agree, in advance, on the rules of the conversation.
1:19Which messages are allowed, how each one is understood, and what a reply looks like. Write those rules down, and you have a protocol.
1:27None of this is about AI. Protocols are older than the web, and every page you load is two programs following rules just like these.
1:36Ask for a page, and you get a page back in the agreed format, every time. That's what the agreement guarantees.
1:42And at this level, that's all MCP is. One more of these agreements, between two programs.
1:47Now let's read the three words one more time.
1:50Model, context, protocol.
1:52Back in one line, it reads as a plain description.
1:55Outside information, brought to a model that needs it, under an agreement both sides follow. That's all the name says.
2:02Next time, the three parts of every MCP connection, and what each one does.

Why Is It Called Model Context Protocol?

Created by Abhyuday DesaiPublished 2 Oct, v1Runs 2 min 13 sec

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About this video

In Episode 02 of MCP Explained, we take the name apart one word at a time. Model is the language model inside the app, the thing the whole protocol serves. Context is everything the model needs that is not in the prompt: your files, your database, the services your team already uses. Protocol is an agreement between two programs about the rules of a conversation. Put back together, the name reads as a plain description of what MCP does.

You'll learn how to:

Understand why the model is the first word: it only knows what it was trained on and what it is given, and everything MCP delivers ends up there
See what counts as context: the information and capabilities around the app that the model may need
Learn what a protocol is with a familiar example, HTTP, and why none of this is specific to AI
Read the name as one plain sentence: outside information, brought to a model that needs it, under an agreement both sides follow

This video is for developers hearing about MCP for the first time. No prior MCP knowledge is needed.

What changed

v102 Oct 2026abhydesai2 min 13 sec805b43c

First published version.

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