The new specification for the Model Cooperation Protocol (MCP) aims to remove the primary obstacle to its widespread enterprise adoption. Initially designed for local machine use, MCP has undergone a significant foundational rethink to better suit enterprise-scale deployment.

A key change includes a new deprecation policy, guaranteeing at least 12 months notice before features are removed, except for critical security updates. This aligns with the goal of enhancing MCP's enterprise scalability.

Managed by the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) under the Linux Foundation, MCP was first introduced by Anthropic nearly two years ago. While Anthropic remains influential, the protocol now benefits from contributions from major companies like OpenAI, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon, and is supported by numerous developer tools and services.