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A process that exposes tools, resources, and prompts to an agent over the Model Context Protocol.
An MCP server is the thing on the other end of MCP: it advertises a set of tools (e.g. query_db, create_issue) and the client — Claude Code — calls them on the model's behalf. You wire it up in config by command (stdio, launched locally) or URL (HTTP/SSE, remote), and its tools then appear to the agent like native ones. Example: the GitHub MCP server lets the agent open PRs and read issues without you writing any glue code. It's the standard adapter layer so any agent can talk to any tool without bespoke integrations.
Plainly
Think of MCP Server as roads and power for the app city. A process that exposes tools, resources, and prompts to an agent over the Model Context Protocol.
In practice
Use it when local behavior needs to become a reachable, reliable deployed service. In practice, define the owner, input, output, and failure mode before you rely on it.