Dictionary term
MCP Transport
Agentic AIAdvanced
The communication layer that carries MCP messages between client and server, typically local stdio or a network-based streamable HTTP transport.
In plain English
How MCP messages physically travel between the AI app and the tool: either through a program running on your own computer, or over the internet using web requests.
Analogy
Like choosing between a direct cable or a network connection to send the same data; the message is the same, only the pipe differs.
Why it matters
Choosing the right transport determines whether your MCP server runs locally on your machine or is reachable as a remote hosted service.
In practice
A local server using stdio, versus a hosted server reachable over streamable HTTP.
Related terms
Sources
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