What Is MCP — and Why Is Everyone Talking About It?
Jun 21, 2025
2 mins
Matt (Co-Founder and CEO)
TL;DR:
MCP (Machine Client Protocol) is an emerging standard for managing how autonomous agents access APIs — with identity, scoped permissions, and full auditability.
It’s what OAuth did for users — but for AI agents, bots, scripts, and automated workflows.
If your app is being accessed by anything non-human, MCP is the missing piece.
🧨 Why Is Everyone Talking About MCP?
Because the world is rapidly shifting from user-based access to agent-based access.
Think about it:
Agents built on LLMs (like GPT, Claude)
No-code/low-code automation tools
Integration bots
Smart assistants
AI copilots and orchestrators
They all need access to SaaS platforms — but traditional authentication models weren’t designed for this.
MCP is exploding in relevance because it provides a standard, secure way to give agents API access — without exposing your platform to uncontrolled service accounts or token sprawl.
🤖 So, What Is MCP?
MCP = Machine Client Protocol
It’s a protocol that defines how a non-human actor (aka an “agent”) can securely access APIs.
Core principles:
Agent Identity: Verifiable identity for machines, not just humans
Delegated Authority: Humans (or systems) can delegate limited access to agents
Scoped Tokens: Access is tightly scoped, time-bound, and revocable
Auditability: Every action can be traced back to a specific agent
It’s not an auth provider.
It’s not a model.
It’s the standard for how machines prove who they are, what they’re allowed to do, and how you control them.
🔒 Why OAuth Isn’t Enough
OAuth was designed for human-centric use cases:
“Let me sign in with Google”
“Let a user give Dropbox access to Google Drive”
But it breaks down when:
The client isn’t a user… it’s a bot
The bot is multi-tenant (acting on behalf of many customers)
You need to revoke or audit access per agent
You need delegation that’s traceable and safe
Most devs today use a mess of:
Over-permissioned service accounts
Static API keys
Homegrown token logic
Hacky impersonation flows
MCP replaces that with clean, purpose-built agent access infrastructure.
💥 Why It’s a Big Deal (Now)
The agent wave isn’t coming — it’s already here.
LLM agents are integrating into everything
Customers want to bring their own bots
SaaS vendors are launching AI co-pilots
Platforms are becoming programmable via automation
And yet… the infrastructure for machine-to-machine access hasn’t evolved since the early 2010s.
MCP changes that. It’s like the OAuth moment — but for agents.
🔁 Real-World Example
Let’s say your customer wants to connect their own GPT-based assistant to your platform.
Here’s the problem:
Who is this bot?
What can it access?
For how long?
On whose behalf?
Can I revoke or limit it?
Can I audit what it did?
Without MCP: you’re guessing, hoping, or hardcoding.
With MCP: you’ve got verifiable identity, scoped delegation, and full observability.
🧱 MCP Isn’t a Feature — It’s a Layer
MCP isn’t just auth.
It’s the access layer for agents.
✅ Works across LLM agents, SaaS integrations, and automation
✅ Complements your existing APIs
✅ Plays well with OAuth (or replaces parts of it)
✅ Provides the missing control layer for multi-tenant agent access
🛠️ What Does MCP Look Like in Practice?
An agent using MCP will:
Request access with a machine identity
Receive a scoped, signed token
Use that token to access your platform’s APIs
Be logged, monitored, and revocable in real time
This is what secure agent infrastructure looks like in 2025 and beyond.
⚡ Who’s Building MCP Infrastructure?
Right now, this is a greenfield category.
At Prefactor, we’re building the first drop-in auth layer that brings MCP to any SaaS platform:
Scoped tokens
Delegated access
Agent identity management
Audit and revocation
We believe MCP is the future of access — and we’re building the infrastructure to make it real today.
✅ Summary: Why You Should Care
If you’re building for AI, automation, or agents —
MCP isn’t optional. It’s foundational.