Every assistant used to need its own plugin format. Model Context Protocol replaces that with one server description that many clients can consume — which makes company data a plug-in capability rather than a project.
What an MCP server exposes
Tools are actions the model can call: search a company, fetch a report, list recent signals. Resources are addressable documents the client can read, such as a single company record. Prompts are reusable templates, for example an account-research brief.
For company data, three or four tools plus one resource type usually covers ninety percent of real usage.
Why it beats one plugin per assistant
You maintain one authentication path, one schema and one rate-limit policy. New clients arrive for free, and internal IDE assistants get the same capability as the sales chatbot.
It also centralises safety: scope keys per workspace at the server, and no client can exceed what the server allows.
Practical cautions
Keep responses compact. Models pay for every token, so return the fields that matter and a link to the full report rather than dumping a raw payload.
Version your tools. Renaming a field silently breaks every agent that depended on it, and unlike a UI, nobody notices until an answer is wrong.
Frequently asked questions
Is MCP a replacement for a REST API?
No. MCP sits in front of your API as the model-facing layer. Your REST or GraphQL endpoints remain the system of record for normal software integrations.
Can I limit what an MCP client can see?
Yes. Scope the credential per workspace or per market at the server, so a client only ever sees the countries and fields it is entitled to.
