# What is MCP Client? Definition & Technical Mechanics

> **Source:** [SPIDITS AI AI Glossary](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary)  
> **Category:** Agentic Systems  
> **Canonical Citation:** [https://spidits.com/ai-glossary/mcp-client](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary/mcp-client)

## Definition
A Model Context Protocol Client (MCP Client) is an application (such as an IDE, chatbot, or developer platform) that implements the MCP protocol to discover, connect to, and invoke tools and data sources exposed by MCP servers.

## Architectural Mechanics & Deep Dive
An MCP client is an application (such as Claude Desktop or an IDE assistant) that connects to one or more MCP servers. The client coordinates the session, passes the user's prompt to the LLM, reads tool declarations from the MCP server, prompts the user for tool execution approval, and returns execution outputs back to the LLM to complete agent actions.

## Industry Applications & Real-World Use Cases
Agent coding integrations, editor plugins, and terminal-agent protocols.

## Frequently Asked Questions

### What is an example of an MCP Client?
AI code editors (like Cursor or VS Code plugins) that connect to local tool systems using MCP.

### How does an MCP Client interact with servers?
It uses JSON-RPC over standard input/output or web sockets to query the server for available tools and invoke them.

## Related Terminology
- [mcp](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary/mcp)
- [mcp-server](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary/mcp-server)
- [ai-agent](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary/ai-agent)

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*From the SPIDITS AI Knowledge Base (336+ terms indexed). Explore full technical definitions: [https://spidits.com/ai-glossary](https://spidits.com/ai-glossary)*