Diff: substrate/mcp-substrate-protocol
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| schema: foundry-doc-v1 | schema: foundry-doc-v1 |
| title: "MCP as substrate protocol" | title: "MCP as substrate protocol" |
| slug: mcp-substrate-protocol | slug: mcp-substrate-protocol |
| category: substrate | category: substrate |
| type: topic | type: topic |
| quality: complete | quality: complete |
| short_description: "Every Ring 1 and Ring 2 service exposes a Model Context Protocol server interface as its primary external contract, with the Doorman as the MCP gateway." | short_description: "Every Ring 1 and Ring 2 service exposes a Model Context Protocol server interface as its primary external contract, with the Doorman as the MCP gateway." |
| status: active | status: active |
| bcsc_class: public-disclosure-safe | bcsc_class: public-disclosure-safe |
| last_edited: 2026-05-15 | last_edited: 2026-05-15 |
| editor: pointsav-engineering | editor: pointsav-engineering |
| cites: [] | cites: [] |
| references: | references: |
| - id: 1 | - id: 1 |
| text: "Anthropic. 'Model Context Protocol Specification.' modelcontextprotocol.io, 2025." | text: "Anthropic. 'Model Context Protocol Specification.' modelcontextprotocol.io, 2025." |
| url: "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25" | url: "https://modelcontextprotocol.io/specification/2025-11-25" |
| paired_with: mcp-substrate-protocol.es.md | paired_with: mcp-substrate-protocol.es.md |
| --- | --- |
| **MCP-as-Substrate-Protocol** designates the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as the wire contract for all inter-service composition in the platform. Every Ring 1 and Ring 2 service exposes an MCP server interface as its primary external contract. The [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] ([[service-slm]]) is the MCP gateway. [[customer-hostability|Customer extensions]] plug in as additional MCP servers. This is not a preference or an implementation convenience — it is a structural decision. | **MCP-as-Substrate-Protocol** designates the Model Context Protocol (MCP) as the wire contract for all inter-service composition in the platform. Every Ring 1 and Ring 2 service exposes an MCP server interface as its primary external contract. The [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] ([[service-slm]]) is the MCP gateway. [[customer-hostability|Customer extensions]] plug in as additional MCP servers. This is not a preference or an implementation convenience — it is a structural decision. |
| ## Why MCP is substrate-level | ## Why MCP is substrate-level |
| The Model Context Protocol has become the industry standard for AI-native application composition. It defines a stable, machine-readable interface between clients, servers, and host processes. [^1] The platform adopts it at the substrate level because the alternative — bespoke per-service wire formats — accumulates versioning debt, per-pair contract testing costs, and custom client implementations in every consumer. MCP is the coordination point that prevents that drift. | The Model Context Protocol has become the industry standard for AI-native application composition. It defines a stable, machine-readable interface between clients, servers, and host processes. [^1] The platform adopts it at the substrate level because the alternative — bespoke per-service wire formats — accumulates versioning debt, per-pair contract testing costs, and custom client implementations in every consumer. MCP is the coordination point that prevents that drift. |
| The practical result: a customer-built agent, an IDE extension, and the platform operator TUI all interact with the same service interfaces using the same protocol. There is no "developer API" distinct from the "user API." The wire contract is unified. | The practical result: a customer-built agent, an IDE extension, and the platform operator TUI all interact with the same service interfaces using the same protocol. There is no "developer API" distinct from the "user API." The wire contract is unified. |
| ## How the three-ring architecture maps to MCP roles | ## How the three-ring architecture maps to MCP roles |
| MCP defines three roles. The platform's architecture maps onto them directly: | MCP defines three roles. The platform's architecture maps onto them directly: |
| **MCP Server** — each Ring 1 and Ring 2 service: the [[worm-ledger-architecture|file system ledger]], the knowledge runtime, [[service-extraction|the extraction service]], the input service, [[service-people|the people service]], [[service-email|the email service]], and the egress service. When Phase 5 delivers the marketplace and settlement services, those are MCP servers too. | **MCP Server** — each Ring 1 and Ring 2 service: the [[worm-ledger-architecture|file system ledger]], the knowledge runtime, [[service-extraction|the extraction service]], the input service, [[service-people|the people service]], [[service-email|the email service]], and the egress service. When Phase 5 delivers the marketplace and settlement services, those are MCP servers too. |
| **MCP Client** — the [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] (consuming Ring 1 and Ring 2 services as tools during inference); the operator TUI; customer-built agents; IDE extensions. | **MCP Client** — the [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] (consuming Ring 1 and Ring 2 services as tools during inference); the operator TUI; customer-built agents; IDE extensions. |
| **MCP Host** — the Doorman for inference-traffic flows; the operator TUI for operator-traffic flows. | **MCP Host** — the Doorman for inference-traffic flows; the operator TUI for operator-traffic flows. |
| The Doorman is both MCP Client (calling `service-content` for graph grounding) and MCP Host (presenting the unified inference interface to upstream callers). The reuse is deliberate: the same process that holds inference credentials also mediates tool composition. | The Doorman is both MCP Client (calling `service-content` for graph grounding) and MCP Host (presenting the unified inference interface to upstream callers). The reuse is deliberate: the same process that holds inference credentials also mediates tool composition. |
| ## Tool semantics | ## Tool semantics |
| Each service exposes a small set of named MCP tools. `service-content` exposes graph query, graph mutation, vector search, and temporal query. The file ledger service exposes ledger append, ledger query, and checkpoint. The extraction service exposes entity extraction and classification. The people service exposes person lookup, upsert, and relationship query. | Each service exposes a small set of named MCP tools. `service-content` exposes graph query, graph mutation, vector search, and temporal query. The file ledger service exposes ledger append, ledger query, and checkpoint. The extraction service exposes entity extraction and classification. The people service exposes person lookup, upsert, and relationship query. |
| The marketplace service (planned Phase 5) is intended to expose listing creation, listing query, and transaction initiation as MCP tools. Customers extending the platform add new MCP servers that expose their own vertical-specific tools. The [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] discovers new tools at session start via MCP's describe mechanism; no core code changes are required to accommodate a new extension. | The marketplace service (planned Phase 5) is intended to expose listing creation, listing query, and transaction initiation as MCP tools. Customers extending the platform add new MCP servers that expose their own vertical-specific tools. The [[compounding-doorman|Doorman]] discovers new tools at session start via MCP's describe mechanism; no core code changes are required to accommodate a new extension. |
| ## The Doorman as MCP gateway | ## The Doorman as MCP gateway |
| When any caller — task session, operator TUI, or customer agent — sends an inference request to the Doorman, the Doorman is simultaneously a client (calling `service-content` for graph context per [[knowledge-graph-grounded-apprenticeship]]) and a gateway (routing the request to the appropriate compute tier). This mediation point is where graph grounding, audit logging, tier selection, and compute-boundary enforcement all converge. | When any caller — task session, operator TUI, or customer agent — sends an inference request to the Doorman, the Doorman is simultaneously a client (calling `service-content` for graph context per [[knowledge-graph-grounded-apprenticeship]]) and a gateway (routing the request to the appropriate compute tier). This mediation point is where graph grounding, audit logging, tier selection, and compute-boundary enforcement all converge. |
| ## Customer extensions | ## Customer extensions |
| A customer with a vertical-specific data source writes an MCP server that exposes that system's data as tools. The Doorman discovers and uses those tools in subsequent inference calls alongside the built-in tools. This is the structural opening for the [[vertical-seed-packs-marketplace]]: each planned pack is intended to ship with a reference MCP server for that vertical's typical data sources. | A customer with a vertical-specific data source writes an MCP server that exposes that system's data as tools. The Doorman discovers and uses those tools in subsequent inference calls alongside the built-in tools. This is the structural opening for the [[vertical-seed-packs-marketplace]]: each planned pack is intended to ship with a reference MCP server for that vertical's typical data sources. |
| ## Composition with Code-for-Machines First | ## Composition with Code-for-Machines First |
| MCP is the structural realization of the [[code-for-machines-first]] principle. Every service contract is machine-readable and introspectable at runtime. Human-facing surfaces — the TUI, web interfaces — are clients of the same MCP interfaces that any other agent would use. There is no human-only data surface in the platform. | MCP is the structural realization of the [[code-for-machines-first]] principle. Every service contract is machine-readable and introspectable at runtime. Human-facing surfaces — the TUI, web interfaces — are clients of the same MCP interfaces that any other agent would use. There is no human-only data surface in the platform. |
| ## OpenAI-compatible HTTP boundary preserved | ## OpenAI-compatible HTTP boundary preserved |
| The Doorman's existing OpenAI-compatible HTTP interface is preserved alongside MCP. Third-party clients that use the OpenAI SDK continue to work without modification. MCP is added as the substrate-level composition standard, not as a replacement for existing compatibility. | The Doorman's existing OpenAI-compatible HTTP interface is preserved alongside MCP. Third-party clients that use the OpenAI SDK continue to work without modification. MCP is added as the substrate-level composition standard, not as a replacement for existing compatibility. |
| ## See also | ## See also |
| - [[single-boundary-compute-discipline]] — the Doorman as the single MCP gateway for inference | - [[single-boundary-compute-discipline]] — the Doorman as the single MCP gateway for inference |
| - [[knowledge-graph-grounded-apprenticeship]] — graph query and mutation are MCP tool calls | - [[knowledge-graph-grounded-apprenticeship]] — graph query and mutation are MCP tool calls |
| - [[code-for-machines-first]] — MCP as the structural realization of machine-first service contracts | - [[code-for-machines-first]] — MCP as the structural realization of machine-first service contracts |
| - [[vertical-seed-packs-marketplace]] — planned packs ship with vertical-specific MCP server extensions | - [[vertical-seed-packs-marketplace]] — planned packs ship with vertical-specific MCP server extensions |