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Fact copy: MCP glossary

Definitions for MCP, agents and travel integration.

Canonical source: https://travel-mcp.com/en/knowledge/glossary/

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Factual summary

The glossary provides consistent definitions and links to deeper knowledge pages.

Protocol roles

A host is the AI application and policy boundary. It normally creates one MCP client for each server connection. A server exposes negotiated capabilities; it is not the language model or automatically the downstream system of record.

  • Host — user-facing application and orchestration boundary
  • Client — one stateful protocol relationship to one server
  • Server — provider of tools, resources or prompts
  • Capability negotiation — runtime agreement about optional features

Capability primitives

Tools are model-invoked operations, resources are application-controlled context addressed by URI, and prompts are user-selected templates. These interaction models have different control and security expectations.

  • Tool — structured invocation that may have side effects
  • Resource — readable context with read-time authorization
  • Prompt — user-controlled reusable interaction template
  • Schema — structural contract, not proof of business validity

Travel-domain terms

Offer, order, reservation, PNR, ticket, EMD and itinerary are not synonyms. Their precise meaning depends on the supplier and standard; a knowledge system must preserve namespace, source and version.

  • Offer — time-bound commercial proposition
  • Order — commercial record governed by the provider
  • PNR — reservation record locator and associated data
  • Ticket/EMD — fulfilment and service documents in airline processes

Security and operations

Authentication establishes a subject; authorization decides a permitted action on a specific object. Consent, idempotency, provenance and auditability address different risks and cannot replace one another.

  • Audience — resource for which a token is intended
  • Least privilege — minimum capability and data access
  • Idempotency — protection against duplicate state changes
  • Provenance — documented origin and retrieval context

Primary sources and specifications