Updated March 2026
MCP stands for Model Context Protocol. It's an open standard from Anthropic that defines how AI models talk to external tools. An MCP server exposes tools -- each with a name, description, and input schema -- that an agent can discover and call mid-conversation.
Think of it as a plugin system for AI. Before MCP, every AI integration meant custom code: parse the model's output, map it to API calls, handle errors, feed results back. MCP standardizes this. The model sees available tools, picks one, sends structured input, gets structured output. The host app (Claude Desktop, Cursor) handles the protocol.
Sutrena's MCP server lives at https://sutrena.com/api/mcp and exposes 48 tools. sutrena_create_form for creating forms. sutrena_list_forms for browsing. sutrena_get_submissions for reading data. sutrena_create_dashboard for analytics. sutrena_create_webhook for notifications. sutrena_create_from_template for one-step form creation.
It runs over SSE, so it works over standard HTTPS. Configure your MCP client with the URL and an Authorization header with your API key. That's the setup.
Authentication uses Sutrena API keys (st_live_ prefix). Each key is scoped to one user account. Rate limits and plan quotas apply the same as direct API calls.
What does this actually give you? An AI agent that handles form workflows autonomously. Instead of you manually creating forms, the agent figures out what data to collect, creates the form, sets up a webhook, builds a dashboard. All through MCP tool calls, no custom integration code.
MCP servers are composable. An agent can use Sutrena for forms, a database server for queries, and a file system server for local data -- all at the same time. The model picks which tools fit the task.