Model Context Protocol (MCP), developed by Anthropic, has celebrated its first anniversary in November 2025 with a major specification update release.
Remarkable Growth
In just one year since its November 2024 announcement, MCP has evolved from a small open-source experiment into an industry standard.
Key Statistics
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| MCP Registry Server Count | ~2,000 |
| Growth Since September | 407% |
| Maintainers | 58 (9 core leaders) |
| Discord Contributors | 2,900+ |
| Weekly New Contributors | 100+ |
The ecosystem has expanded to the point where “if you can think of a scenario, there’s probably an MCP server for it.”
Major Companies Building MCP Servers
Leading tech companies are actively building MCP servers:
- Notion: Note management
- Stripe: Payment workflows
- GitHub: Engineering process automation
- Hugging Face: Model management
- Postman: API test automation
November 2025 New Specifications
Task-Based Workflows (SEP-1686)
A new feature enabling server work tracking. Supports the following state management:
working: Processinginput_required: Awaiting inputcompleted: Completedfailed: Failedcancelled: Cancelled
Designed for healthcare data analysis and multi-step enterprise workflows.
Simplified Authorization Flow (SEP-991)
URL-based client registration significantly reduces the complexity of Dynamic Client Registration (DCR). Enables more streamlined authentication using OAuth client ID metadata documents.
Security Enhancements
- SEP-1024: Client security requirements for local server installation
- SEP-835: Default scope definitions for authorization specification
- Enterprise MCP registry vision established
Extensions
Optional, configurable extensions support experimental features while keeping the core protocol stable:
- SEP-1046: OAuth client authentication
- SEP-990: Cross App Access
URL Mode Invocation (SEP-1036)
Securely collects authentication credentials through browser OAuth flows. Improves security by ensuring clients never see authentication information directly.
Sampling with Tools (SEP-1577)
A groundbreaking feature enabling servers to run their own agent loops:
- Tool invocation
- Parallel execution
- Multi-step reasoning
Enables more complex agent workflows.
Developer Experience Improvements
- SEP-986: Standard format for tool names
- SEP-1319: Decoupling from RPC methods
- SEP-1699: SSE polling with server-side disconnection
- SEP-1309: Improved SDK specification versioning
Industry Partner Support
Major companies have expressed support for MCP’s standardization and importance in agent development:
- GitHub
- OpenAI
- Block
- Microsoft
- Hugging Face
- Okta
- AWS
- Google Cloud
- Obot AI
Governance Structure Established
A system where community and Anthropic maintainers collaborate to approve Specification Extension Proposals (SEPs) has been established. Formal working groups and interest groups have been introduced, with a clear policy that “the maintainer team is not a gatekeeper, but helps surface issues and align on solutions.”
Future Direction
This release maintains backward compatibility. The development team plans to focus on:
- Improved Reliability & Observability: More stable protocol operation
- Better Server Configuration Patterns: Enhanced developer experience
- Refined Enterprise Security Models: Accelerated enterprise adoption
Summary
MCP’s first anniversary marks an important milestone in AI agent interoperability:
- Rapid Growth: 2,000 servers and 407% growth rate in one year
- Industry Standardization: Support from major tech companies
- Technical Maturity: Major updates including task-based workflows and security enhancements
- Open Governance: Community-driven specification development
As AI agents become mainstream, MCP is establishing itself as the foundational infrastructure for the ecosystem.