Glossary
MCP and company-intelligence terms, defined directly.
Direct, non-circular definitions of MCP, MCP server, MCP client, host, tool, resource, agent, tool calling, provenance, entity resolution, OAuth, entitlement, Companies House, iXBRL, PSC and more.
- MCP (Model Context Protocol)
- An open standard, published by Anthropic in November 2024, that defines how AI applications connect to external systems such as data sources and tools. It specifies a client-server architecture and a message format based on JSON-RPC. Read more
- MCP server
- A program that exposes tools, resources and prompts to AI applications over the Model Context Protocol. DataGardener MCP is an MCP server that exposes UK company-intelligence tools. Read more
- MCP client
- The component inside an AI application that maintains a connection to one MCP server, discovers its tools and calls them on the model's behalf.
- MCP host
- The AI application a person uses, such as Claude, which runs one or more MCP clients and coordinates the model, the user and connected servers.
- Tool
- A function an MCP server exposes that a model can call with structured arguments. DataGardener MCP tools include search_companies, search_contracts and execute_query. Read more
- Resource
- Read-only content an MCP server can expose to a host, such as a document or a schema, identified by a URI.
- Prompt
- In MCP, a reusable instruction template a server can offer to the host. In everyday use, the question a person types to an agent.
- Agent
- An AI system that pursues a goal by deciding which actions to take, including which tools to call, in what order, and when to stop.
- Agentic AI
- AI systems built to act, not only to answer: they plan, call tools, observe results and continue until the task is complete.
- Tool calling
- The mechanism by which a model emits a structured request to run a tool and receives the result as part of its context.
- Context
- Everything a model can see when generating a response: the conversation, instructions, and any tool results or resources that have been added.
- Structured data
- Data organised into defined fields and types, such as a company record with a registration number, status and turnover, as opposed to free text.
- Entity resolution
- Determining that records from different sources refer to the same real-world company, for example matching an award notice, a payment and a filing to one registration number.
- Provenance
- The origin of a piece of information: which source it came from and when. DataGardener MCP returns the source and date with records so an agent can show its working. Read more
- API (Application Programming Interface)
- A defined set of requests and responses that lets one program use another. APIs suit deterministic integrations; MCP suits agents that choose tools at runtime. Read more
- JSON-RPC
- A lightweight remote-procedure-call protocol encoded in JSON. MCP messages between client and server use JSON-RPC 2.0.
- OAuth
- An open authorisation standard that lets a user grant an application access to a service without sharing a password. Remote MCP servers such as DataGardener MCP use OAuth so identity travels with the connection.
- Entitlement
- The set of intelligence modules and usage a specific DataGardener customer is permitted to access. DataGardener MCP enforces entitlement per connection.
- Company intelligence
- Connected, current information about companies and the people, money, contracts, property and places around them, organised so it can answer questions rather than only be looked up.
- Business intelligence
- Broadly, the practice of turning data into decisions. In software it often means dashboards over an organisation's own data; DataGardener uses the term for intelligence about the external business population.
- Companies House
- The UK registrar of companies. It publishes company records, officers, persons with significant control, charges and filed accounts, which are primary sources for DataGardener.
- iXBRL
- Inline eXtensible Business Reporting Language, the tagged format in which UK company accounts are filed, allowing financial figures to be extracted as structured data.
- PSC (Person with Significant Control)
- An individual or entity that owns or controls a UK company, as recorded on the Companies House PSC register.
- Registered charge
- A security interest, such as a mortgage or debenture, registered at Companies House by a lender over a company's assets. Charge history is central to lending intelligence.
- CPV code
- Common Procurement Vocabulary code, the EU and UK classification used to describe the subject of a public contract.
- Contracts Finder
- The UK government service that publishes public-sector contract opportunities and awards above set thresholds.
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