Model Context Protocol, an open standard for making tools and data available to models. To use one, a Foundry agent points at a remote MCP server, naming it with a server label and giving its URL.
Also called Model Context Protocol.
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Terms in this definition
- Standard deployment type
A Foundry deployment type billed per token that keeps processing of prompts and responses inside the Azure geography of the resource, meeting data residency needs at lower volumes.
- Agent
A specialised form of Microsoft Copilot set up for one particular job, pairing instructions with knowledge and skills. You can create one in Copilot Studio, SharePoint or Agent Builder, and administrators control them from the Microsoft 365 admin center.
- Route table label
Name for a set of route tables in Virtual WAN hubs, used when choosing where routes propagate; Default, for instance, covers the defaultRouteTable of every hub.
- URL
The web address of a resource, on which URL-based routing relies.
Related terms
- AI gateway in Azure API Management
Collection of API Management gateway capabilities, offered in every tier rather than as its own product, for placing model APIs, MCP servers and A2A agent APIs behind caller authentication, token metering and content screening.
- Data API builder
Turns tables, views and stored procedures into secured REST, GraphQL and MCP endpoints (the last as SQL MCP Server). It's open source, you host it yourself, and a JSON file sets it up, permissions by role included.
- Fabric Data Warehouse MCP server
A preview MCP server hosted by Microsoft that offers one tool, executeSQL, for running approved T-SQL on a Fabric warehouse or SQL analytics endpoint. Queries run with the Fabric permissions of whoever is signed in.
- Server-Sent Events
An older streaming method for talking to remote MCP servers over HTTP. VS Code drops back to it if a server can't do streamable HTTP; the abbreviation has nothing to do with server-side encryption.
- SQL MCP Server
Since version 1.7, Data API builder ships an MCP server that turns entities from dab-config.json into tools AI agents can call. The roles and permissions already applied to REST and GraphQL access govern it too.
- SSMS Agent mode
A GitHub Copilot mode inside SSMS. Through a local sql-tools MCP server it inspects schema, executes queries and examines execution plans, always as the signed-in person.
- stdio
A way for MCP to work locally: the client launches the server as a process and they communicate via stdin and stdout. Data API builder's SQL MCP Server can run like this.