MCP in one paragraph
The Model Context Protocol standardises how an AI client discovers and calls TOOLS and reads context from servers — 'USB for agent tooling'. One MCP server exposing your systems can serve many AI clients, instead of per-platform plugin rewrites. Microsoft's direction has been to embrace it across the agent stack (Copilot Studio and the developer platforms grew MCP support through 2025-26) — verify the exact wiring per product version when you build, because this section of the stack moves fast and this curriculum refuses to hallucinate specifics that shift monthly.
Why an M365 estate should care
- Reuse: internal capabilities wrapped as MCP servers become portable across sanctioned AI clients — build once for Copilot Studio AND the engineering org's other assistants.
- Procurement leverage: vendors shipping MCP servers slot into your stack without bespoke integration projects.
- A cleaner review unit: an MCP server's tool list is a reviewable manifest — the api-actions checklist maps onto it almost verbatim (auth on whose behalf, egress, consequence class per tool).
What protocols do NOT answer (your governance stays yours)
Identity and authorisation policy (an MCP server still needs the OBO-vs-service-identity decision), data-boundary review (a protocol moves context efficiently — including to places you shouldn't), tenant inventory (a server spun up by a team is shadow tooling until registered), and consequence design (kill switches and thresholds are architecture, not protocol features). The protocols standardise the PLUMBING; every checklist in modules 5-6 still applies to what flows through it.
What to watch (proofs)
- The server registry: MCP/tool servers in use, owners, tool manifests — extend the agent census (governance concept) with a protocol column; unregistered servers surface in network/endpoint telemetry.
- Tool-manifest diffs: server updates changing tool lists — the same re-review trigger as agent manifest changes.
- Cross-client usage: which AI clients call which servers — the reuse claim measured, and the exposure map when a server must be pulled.
- Product-version wiring: the current Studio/platform MCP support notes saved per adoption decision — dated, because this page's shelf life is measured in quarters (the change-aware banner above will tell you when Microsoft moves it).