What is an MCP Gateway?

The Model Context Protocol (MCP) is an open protocol introduced in late 2024 that defines how AI models interact with tools, data, and APIs. It aims to standardize interaction by providing models with structured access to external services. An MCP Gateway is a proposed solution to the challenges of using multiple MCP-enabled tools, connecting to a single gateway that manages orchestration behind the scenes. This gateway serves as a unified interface to all MCP-compliant services, routing requests, managing security and context isolation, and applying policies such as rate limits and logging. While similar to traditional API gateways, MCP Gateways are designed specifically for AI agents as consumers, with deeper contextual understanding, state management, and tool chaining capabilities. The concept is still evolving, with questions surrounding its necessity, flexibility, standardization, and impact on the ecosystem.

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