MCP Articles
12 articles across AI Catchup's news, guides, tutorials, and comparisons.
All MCP articles
Claude Makes Enterprise-Managed Auth for MCP Connectors Generally Available
Anthropic says enterprise-managed auth for MCP connectors is now generally available. Claude Team and Enterprise admins can centralize authorization through their identity provider, while users receive connector access automatically without individual OAuth consent flows.
Agent Plugins: An Open Standard for Skills and MCP
OpenAI Developers introduced Agent Plugins, an open, vendor-neutral package format for sharing Agent Skills and MCP server configurations across compatible agent clients.
Cursor Says Cloud Agents Use 20-30% Fewer Tokens
Cursor says its cloud agents are now 20-30% more token efficient, with runs that use computer use becoming 80% more efficient. The update credits improvements to MCP, skills, computer use, and the cloud development environment behind those workflows.
MCP 2026-07-28 Moves to a Stateless Core as Claude Rolls Out Support
Anthropic says the MCP 2026-07-28 specification moves the Model Context Protocol from a bidirectional stateful design to a request/response model, adds versioned extensions for MCP Apps and Tasks, and aligns authorization with production OAuth 2.0 and OIDC deployments.
Claude Code artifacts can now call MCP connectors for live, viewer-specific data
Claude Code artifacts can call MCP connectors each time someone views them, so a published page shows current data rather than a session snapshot. Available on Pro, Max, Team, and Enterprise plans, requiring Claude Code v2.1.209 or later. Connector-backed artifacts cannot be shared to a public link on any plan.
OpenAI's Secure MCP Tunnel: Connect Private MCP Servers Over Outbound-Only HTTPS
OpenAI's Secure MCP Tunnel connects private and on-prem MCP servers to ChatGPT, Codex, and the Responses API without opening inbound firewall ports. You need a tunnel_id, an API key with Tunnels Read plus Use, and -- separately -- ChatGPT developer-mode access. That permission split is the most common setup blocker.
Claude Managed Agents Add Self-Hosted Sandboxes (Public Beta) and MCP Tunnels (Research Preview)
Anthropic says Claude Managed Agents can now run tool execution in a sandbox you control (public beta) and connect to private MCP servers via MCP tunnels (research preview). The update targets enterprise security requirements by keeping execution and private services within an organization's perimeter.
Claude Code 2.1.142: `claude agents` Gains Session Flags, Fast Mode Defaults to Opus 4.7, MCP Tool Timeout Honored
Anthropic shipped Claude Code 2.1.142 on May 14, 2026. The release adds eight session-configuration flags to `claude agents` (`--add-dir`, `--settings`, `--mcp-config`, `--plugin-dir`, `--permission-mode`, `--model`, `--effort`, `--dangerously-skip-permissions`), flips fast mode's default model from Opus 4.6 to Opus 4.7, and fixes `MCP_TOOL_TIMEOUT` not raising the per-request fetch timeout for remote HTTP/SSE MCP servers -- a regression that capped tool calls at 60 seconds regardless of configuration.
Claude Code 2.1.133: `worktree.baseRef` Default Returns to `origin/<default>`, MCP OAuth Proxy Honored Across the Whole Flow
Anthropic shipped Claude Code 2.1.133 on May 7, 2026. The headline is a worktree-base behavior change: a new `worktree.baseRef` setting (`fresh` | `head`) defaults to `fresh`, which moves `EnterWorktree`'s base back to `origin/<default>` after several months of branching from local `HEAD`. The release also routes `HTTP(S)_PROXY` / `NO_PROXY` / mTLS through the entire MCP OAuth flow (discovery, dynamic client registration, token exchange, refresh), exposes effort level to hooks via `$CLAUDE_EFFORT`, adds Linux sandbox path overrides, and fixes a refresh-token race that was 401-ing parallel sessions.
Best MCP Servers in 2026: Top Picks for AI-Powered Development
Three MCP servers cover most AI-assisted development: Playwright MCP for browser automation, Context7 for version-specific documentation, and the Postgres reference server for read-only database access. The Postgres server still installs but is no longer maintained, so treat it as a starting point rather than a dependency.
AI Tools Landscape: What Changed in Early 2026
Three shifts defined AI tooling in early 2026: MCP settled as the cross-tool standard, coding assistants grew past autocomplete into multi-file workflow partners, and narrowly autonomous agents reached production. MCP's tipping point was earlier than this page first said -- Visual Studio Code made MCP support generally available in June 2025.
How to Build Your Own MCP Server: A Beginner's Guide
Building an MCP server involves three steps: scaffold a TypeScript project with the MCP SDK, define tools that expose your desired functionality, and test the server locally with Claude Code or another MCP client. The entire process takes under an hour for a basic server.