> The fact that you need to write a client for your client is...

correct me if im wrong, but isnt that a proxy? why is everyone calling it a server

Yes! It's a proxy that might modify results on the way in or out, which proxies can do.

Could also be called a gateway, which feels a bit more accurate.

The same way API gateways perform additional services like rate-limiting and authentication and billing, an MCP gateway abstracts the services behind it and adds context such that an LLM can more easily interact with them.

Yeah it is a proxy. I feel that in general we always use the term proxy as short for transparent proxy, while "server" is a bit more general purpose.

If you squint hard enough you can call almost any server a proxy. An FTP server is a proxy for data on disk. Github.com is a proxy for a git repo.

But yeah, saying "MCP is a proxy to your application" might be more insightful than "MCP is a client to your application"

In relation to the client (AI Agent), the MCP server is serving resources like tools, but in relation to your platform that hosts the API those tools call, it is a client.