MCP is a Protocol. The server and the clients are just that. It truly is a rebranding of “API” seemingly just because it’s for a specific purpose. Not that there’s anything wrong with that… call it whatever. But I don’t understand the need to sell it as something else entirely. It is quite literally a reinvention of RPC.

> I’m referring to MCP as the sum of the protocol, a server adhering to the protocol, and clients adding support (e.g. “Connectors”).

Why?

Do you refer to REST APIs or GraphQL as a whole? There are servers "adhering to the protocol" and "clients adding support" for these.

These are literally APIs.